


Don't Be Scared (and Let Out the Beast)

by cairistiona13



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Anal Fingering, Anal Fisting, Animal Transformation, Barebacking, Blow Jobs, Consensual Underage Sex, Consent Issues, First Time Blow Jobs, Fisting, From Sex to Love, Full Moon, Full Shift Werewolves, Gratuitous Smut, Intercrural Sex, M/M, Mates, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mating Moon, Mildly Dubious Consent, Phoenixes, Rape/Non-con Elements, Rimming, Sex Toys, Shameless Smut, Shapeshifting, Smut, Thighs, Transformation, Unicorns, Were-Creatures, Werewolf Mates, Werewolves, Werewolves in Heat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-23 02:11:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 36,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6101344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cairistiona13/pseuds/cairistiona13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joonmyun was always warned that there were monsters in the woods behind the school, but he thought they were just tales his friends made up to scare him. They weren’t.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Be Scared (and Let Out the Beast)

Kim Joonmyun is not a person who anyone would call “reckless”.

In their circle of friends at school he’s watchful, patient, diligent, and, above all, a model student. He’s the person who makes sure everyone is behaving well and doing what they’re supposed to be doing. He’s not Byun Baekhyun, who is the one who dares them to walk the halls in nothing but their underpants. He’s not Kim Jongdae, who takes great joy in refusing to do his homework and still passing every class in first place, which shouldn’t even be possible. He’s not Park Chanyeol, who thinks everything is a game, much like Joonmyun’s puppy.

Jongdae is the most reckless one. He’s the one who would end up in the woods behind their school late on a Friday night, with the moonlight shining down upon him. He’s the one who would have left his map behind, and he’s the one whose phone would have no signal for his GPS to show him the way out. It should be him. It should be Jongdae.

It shouldn’t be Joonmyun, but it is.

Joonmyun would say he didn’t know how he got into this situation but it’s a lie; he knows exactly how he got into it, and it’s not actually as foolish as it could be.

The easiest way to explain it is to say he has an art project, and he decided to paint the woods. It’s dark and it’s dangerous and his friends think he’s a baby and scared of everything that moves so he’d decided that he’d do this. To prove himself.

He is also a realist. He doesn’t believe in the rumours of werewolves and other such monsters roaming the woods. He doesn’t believe that any place quite so close to school could be dangerous, but his friends believe the rumours. He’d figured that this would give him some street-cred; he’s not such a baby if he breaks out of his shell and does something with a modicum of potential danger.

It had been an excellent idea until the sun set, the almost-full moon rising high in the sky to light up the woods, and his stomach started growling. That was when he had begun to realise the dangers of being alone in the woods with a phone with no signal.

It’s after ten o’clock and he’s completely lost. His parents will be wondering where he is. Maybe not worrying, not quite yet—they’re probably thinking he’s at a Friday night party with his friends—but if he doesn’t contact them before morning, that’s when they’ll start. They’ll phone his friends, they’ll phone Kevin, they’ll phone his older brother, both of whom are at university. Nobody will know where he is. And nobody will search the woods for him because, stupidly, he hadn’t told anyone where he was going. Which is, quite clearly, the biggest mistake he’d ever made.

Joonmyun tries to make his way out of the woods. He turns to face the opposite direction to the one he’d been facing, hoping it will take him back the way he’d come, but it’s obvious a few steps in, bag bouncing against his back, that this was a bad idea, because he doesn’t recognise a thing.

He yawns, but he tries to keep going, picking his way through the fallen leaves. But ultimately it’s futile, and he drops into a pile of leaves with a sigh. He curls up with his bag under his head and tries to sleep, even as he shivers. He has nothing to use as a blanket. He hopes it won’t get too cold or windy. He hates the cold—would even go as far as saying that he gets nightmares when he’s in the cold, and that's why he never has the air conditioning on during the summer.

To protect himself, he’s picked a tree with a large overhang so it would protect him from the worst of the elements. He doesn’t want to wake up in the middle of the night soaking wet from a flash downpour, or worse.

Joonmyun rubs at his eyes sadly, before shutting them. It’ll be fine, he thinks. He’s going to wake up in the morning and nothing will have happened, and the sun will guide him out. Or he’ll discover he’s a few metres from the school and he’ll have a good laugh about it. Nothing at all he can do about it now.

He drifts off to the sound of wind through the trees and gentle pads of paws through the fallen leaves.

~*~*~

He wakes up suddenly, quite without realising why he’d awoken. It’s still dark and mostly quiet, so it’s not morning yet. He unlocks his phone, the light illuminating his surroundings. It's just after midnight.

Joonmyun looks around, trying to work out what it was that had woken him, and then a howl sounds through the trees. They vibrate with echoes and there’s a rumbling along the floor, shaking the ground where Joonmyun sits. Shivers run down his spine. Even if he doesn’t believe in monsters, a regular wolf could do serious damage. They’d find his mangled carcass strewn throughout the woods and it’d take them days to work out who he is.

He curls up, knees against his chest, and shakes. The full moon looks down upon him, mockingly. _It’s your fault_ , it seems to say. You chose tonight, of all nights, to get lost in a wood with a dangerous creature running amok. You deserve what you get.

Joonmyun is seventeen years old, but that doesn’t stop him from bringing a thumb to his mouth like he’s three, because he feels like he needs the comfort rather quite desperately, and there’s nobody around to see. None of his friends are there to call him a baby or to laugh.

Thumb in his mouth, he curls up tighter and tighter until his head is against his knees, trying to stop himself from hyperventilating. He’s scared. He’s so, unbelievably scared, and cold, too.

The idea to stand up and just run occurs to him, but at the same time he discards it. If he makes a noise, the wolf will come for him. And Joonmyun would probably run further into the woods, further into the wolf’s path. If he stays where he is, there’s every possibility that the wolf will miss him, that it won’t smell him. But he doesn’t know which way the wind is going. If it’s towards the wolf, he’s already dead.

He wonders if there is a river in these woods. If there is, he might be able to hide there. But he doesn’t know how to get to one. So he buries further into the leaves beneath him and tries his hardest not to make a sound. That may be the only thing keeping him from almost certain death tonight.

He stays still for a few moments as the only sound he hears comes closer and closer to him. And then suddenly there’s a large shape directly across from him. Even with the full moon’s light, the shape is in shadow, but Joonmyun can tell that it is large and dark, possibly even black, even though he knows that wolves are usually grey.

The wolf stands still, and although he can’t see its eyes in the light, he knows it’s watching him.

He shuts his eyes and waits to die.

Even though they’re closed, he can see a light go on, like when he tries to sleep and his phone lights up with late-night texts and Facebook messages, only much, much brighter.

When he opens his eyes, he thinks he must be dreaming.

A white horse stands before him, the light reflecting off it in waves which Joonmyun would have thought was impossible, and a vibrant red and gold bird is attacking the wolf—clearly visible now in the light from the creatures. The wolf is a lot smaller than he had thought it was in the shade; no bigger than a small Labrador. It looks ungainly as it tries to get away from the bird’s beak and stumbles all over itself, and Joonmyun has the strange realisation that this isn’t an adult wolf but a cub, a wolf pup. Of course, this doesn’t mean that it’s any less dangerous than a fully adult wolf, but it strikes Joonmyun as odd. Where are its parents? Don’t wolves hunt in packs?

The horse turns its head towards him, as if to get his attention, and he tears his eyes away—only to feel like the ground’s been pulled from underneath him.

In the centre of the horse’s forehead is a long and shiny white horn. Joonmyun shakes. It’s a _unicorn_. Unicorns don’t exist. Monsters don’t exist. 

But the firebird attacking the wolf puppy looks rather a lot like a phoenix. Joonmyun has no idea which way is up. He’s glad he wasn’t standing, because he doesn’t think he’d still be.

The unicorn shakes his rump and then crouches down. It’s a clear invitation. Joonmyun, thinking he might be hallucinating, obeys, throwing a leg over the rump of the creature and settling down. It’s an uncomfortable sit without a saddle; not that he’s ever ridden a horse before. He’s a golf baby, not a horse-riding baby.

The unicorn stands quickly, before Joonmyun has settled. He grabs hold of the creature’s mane before he falls off. The unicorn is gentle and doesn’t seem to mind, or at least it doesn’t make a noise or a movement. It just begins to head off through the woods, and the gentle trotting, even with the slight bounce, lulls Joonmyun back to sleep—or maybe he just passes out.

~*~*~

This time, when he wakes up, it's to find himself indoors. He’s in a double bed with white bedding, and the curtains in the window are light blue, and the sun is shining through them. There’s a smart desk up against the wall, and a cupboard, but otherwise the room is empty of personal effects. He doesn’t recognise it.

He sits up to discover he’s still in his school uniform, although his tie, belt and shoes have been removed, a gesture that makes him slightly uncomfortable, but that he is also grateful for. He looks around until he finds most of his clothing and his bag, and he redresses, trying to unrumple his shirt at the same time.

Once he’s dressed, he picks up his bag and opens the door, looking around. The hallway looks vaguely familiar, but he can’t remember when he last saw it.

He pads down the hallway in his socks, and partway down he notices a door that is ajar, and curiosity sets in. He pokes his head in, and he sees a room that is instantly recognisable as Park Chanyeol’s; covered in posters of Sandara Park and Shin Minah. There’s a games console on the floor and a stack of racing games beside it, almost teetering over. An acoustic guitar rests in the corner of the room. The bedcovers are pulled back, so Joonmyun knows Chanyeol is awake.

A second later there’s a tap on his shoulder and Joonmyun leaps about a foot in the air. The sound of Chanyeol’s guffaws reaches his ears. Joonmyun spins to face him and smacks him weakly in the chest.

“Cruel!” he says, trying to sound firm, but it comes out more like a whine.

Chanyeol just keeps laughing, and he wraps his arms around Joonmyun’s shoulders and pulls him in for a hug, clapping him on the back in a way that would make Joonmyun’s knees buckle if he weren’t already pressed face-first into Chanyeol’s somewhat muscular chest. Joonmyun pokes him in the ribs and Chanyeol lets him go so he can breathe.

“Morning, Hyung,” Chanyeol says cheerfully. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes,” Joonmyun replies. “I think so.” At the same time, he frowns in confusion. He doesn’t know why he’s at Chanyeol’s house. Did the unicorn take him there?

As he thinks that, it all comes rushing back to him. The wolf, the unicorn, the phoenix. He decides that there’s no way any of that was real. He must have been hallucinating. Though that doesn’t explain how he got to Chanyeol’s house from the woods. He knows that bit wasn’t in his head.

“How…?” he begins to ask, and then shakes his head.

“Let’s have breakfast!” Chanyeol says cheerfully, and he grabs Joonmyun’s hand, linking their fingers together, and runs down the corridor almost too fast for Joonmyun’s shorter legs.

Joonmyun staggers into the kitchen once they reach it, and Chanyeol pushes him gently down into a chair at the table. Zhang Yixing is there already, chopsticks in one hand and a bowl of dark noodles before him. Joonmyun blinks at him, because although they share a few classes together, he’d had no idea he even knows Chanyeol.

“Yixing-hyung lives next door,” Chanyeol says, when he sees Joonmyun’s confusion. “He has breakfast here sometimes.”

“Oh,” Joonmyun replies, and nods.

Yixing smiles kindly at him. There’s something in his eyes that seems familiar, and familiar in an odd way. Joonmyun can’t place it.

“Noodles?” Yixing asks, and he indicates the pot on the stove. Joonmyun nods, and Yixing stands to get him a bowl, clearly at home in Chanyeol’s house.

Once there’s a bowl of steaming noodles before him, Joonmyun ignores all the craziness going around in his head and he attacks the food, remembering that the last time he’d eaten had been lunch yesterday. He finishes the first bowl, and Chanyeol refills it along with his own. The silence is more comfortable than palpable; three people sharing a meal together. There’s no sign of Chanyeol’s parents. Joonmyun knows Yura is at university, like his own brother.

When he’s finished, Joonmyun leans back in his chair and pats his stomach like his father does when he’s full. “Thank you,” he says, and then thinks he should probably phone his parents. He says so, and Chanyeol offers him the house phone. He leaves a quick message on the answer machine so they won’t be worried—though, considering they didn’t pick up the phone, they must think he snuck in late at night, and aren’t yet worried.

Chanyeol is smiling in a somewhat strange way, and Yixing is picking at his fingernails, when he turns back to face them. “Um,” Joonmyun says.

“You’re probably wondering why you’re here,” Yixing says.

“It’s more _how_ than _why_ ,” Joonmyun corrects.

“Well…” Yixing looks at Chanyeol, who looks back at him. “Why were you in the woods so late?”

“I got lost,” Joonmyun says.

“You know it’s dangerous!” Chanyeol shoots out. “You could have been killed. That wolf wasn’t going to stop.”

Joonmyun blinks at him in surprise. “You saw the wolf?” he whispers.

“Yes…” Chanyeol says, drawing the vowel out.

“I didn’t see you.”

Chanyeol looks over at Yixing, who nods, smiling reassuringly.

“Yes, you did,” Chanyeol says. “You saw both of us.”

Joonmyun just looks at him, as he tries to roll it around in his head. He didn’t see any people, and surely they’d have been in just as much danger as he had been, what with the wolf cub roaming about. “I don’t remember,” he says.

“That’s because we weren’t in our human forms,” Yixing says.

Joonmyun suddenly has a rush through his head of, _He’s actually crazy_ , before Yixing turns to face Chanyeol.

“You show him,” he says. “Your clothes don’t get destroyed in the change, unlike mine.”

Chanyeol gives him a look, one which is probably meant to be menacing, or angry, but instead just looks like somebody kicked Joonmyun’s puppy. Then he drags his shirt over his head in one swift move, throwing it to the side of the kitchen, where it lands half-on the fridge. Chanyeol doesn’t look as muscular as he’d felt when Joonmyun was pressed against his chest, but he looks defined enough for someone who mostly only plays basketball at weekends, and the rest of the time games or plays guitar. Though Joonmyun knows the size of his biceps are due to the efforts he puts into drumming.

Then Chanyeol shuts his eyes, and Joonmyun waits for something to happen, hands clenched tightly against his school trousers and the chair, as if he needs to anchor himself for something to truly happen.

It only takes a few moments. Chanyeol seems to shimmer, and then he seems to shrink. His trousers and pants drop to the ground as the human legs shoot up into bird feet. His arms widen into large wings.

The phoenix flies up into the air. He’s quite large, now Joonmyun can see him close-up, about the size of a human child. Joonmyun doesn’t think he can talk, but he pushes himself up into a shaky standing position and staggers towards the bird, which leans into him. Joonmyun’s fingers find gaudy golden and scarlet feathers, and they don’t feel like chicken feathers. They’re softer and bigger than those of any bird he’s seen personally.

The phoenix settles onto the ground and begins the transformation back to human, and that’s when Joonmyun’s legs buckle and he passes out.

~*~*~

Joonmyun is roused by Chanyeol’s voice next to his ear.

“Hyung? Hyung? Are you okay?” Chanyeol asks.

“Couldn’t you have put on some pants first?” Yixing’s voice follows. “He doesn’t want to see that when he comes to.”

Joonmyun opens his eyes and what he sees first are a knobbly, white pair of knees and a couple of very hairy legs. He moves his eyes up to Chanyeol’s face very quickly, trying to avoid the part in the middle which is conspicuously missing any covering—notably a pair of pants. “Please,” Joonmyun almost begs. Despite the fact he’s just had breakfast, he sounds like he hasn’t had a drink in years, and Yixing presses a glass of water into his hands. He gulps it down gratefully.

Chanyeol laughs and stands up, heading over to the pile of clothes on the floor. He dresses facing away from the two of them, giving them both a good look at his pasty, mostly flat arse as he pulls on his pants, followed by his jeans. Then he crosses the room to find his shirt. Joonmyun lets out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding once Chanyeol’s covered up, because looking at your best friend’s dick for reasons other than locker-room showering is never something he’d wanted to have to do.

“So,” Chanyeol begins.

Joonmyun climbs up back into his chair and waits for him to continue.

“I’m a phoenix.”

Even after what he’s seen, the words still sound surreal. Joonmyun is amazed how his life has changed within such a short period of time. Phoenixes are real.

“And you’re a unicorn,” Joonmyun breathes out, turning towards Yixing, who just smiles at him and nods. “Are there … are there more of you?”

“Therianthropy is inherited,” Chanyeol says. “There are enough of us.”

Before Joonmyun can ask what on earth therianthropy is, Yixing interrupts with, “He means shapeshifting.”

“I’m a therianthrope!” Chanyeol corrects with a frown. “ _Shapeshifting_ sounds so uncultured and boring.”

Joonmyun almost laughs at Chanyeol using the word _uncultured_ , but he doesn’t. He can see Yixing having a similar problem, though he also manages to hold it in.

“There are a group of us,” Yixing says, once he seems to have collected himself. “We protect the woods and the school.”

“Does that mean protecting me from wolf cubs?” Joonmyun asks.

“He wasn’t just a cub,” Chanyeol says, and he frowns. “He was a werewolf. Babies are almost more dangerous than adults, because they can’t control themselves. That one’s killed a lot of wildlife and he nearly ripped Jongdae’s throat out a few months back. We keep an eye on him.”

“A werewolf? So he’s human, too? Do you know who he is?”

“Yeah, and he’s not human; he’s a beast,” Chanyeol says. “I know who he is, and I’ve made sure he knows it. He’s dangerous, and I’m not going to let him hurt anyone. He nearly hurt you. He nearly hurt Jongdae. He should be put to sleep.” He clenches his fists. Joonmyun frowns at the tone of his voice. It’s vicious.

“Does he have a pack?” Joonmyun asks.

“No,” Chanyeol says. “He’d probably kill them.”

“It’s just …” Joonmyun twitches, because Chanyeol probably won’t like this. “You’ve read Harry Potter, right? Wolves need packs. They’re not solitary creatures. Being on his own is probably what’s making him so dangerous.”

“No,” Chanyeol says. “Being a werewolf is what makes him dangerous.”

~*~*~

They change the topic for a little while to get Chanyeol’s mood back to normal; talking about school and friends and all sorts of other things, until Yixing brings it back.

“I’m sorry about everything we’ve piled on you this morning,” he says. “It must feel a bit scary.”

Joonmyun smiles awkwardly. “It’s just…it’s extremely surreal. If you’d told me yesterday you were a unicorn and Chanyeol’s a phoenix, I’d have laughed and probably thought you had a few screws loose. Unicorns don’t exist. Phoenixes don’t exist. I certainly didn’t believe in monsters.”

Here Chanyeol cuts in with a frown. “Haven’t you ever read Peter Pan? If you say you don’t believe in fairies, a fairy dies.”

Joonmyun feels his heart plummet to his feet in horror. “Did I kill a phoenix?” he asks, clutching the edge of the chair.

“No,” Chanyeol says, and he’s smiling now, thankfully. It’s weird to see Chanyeol without a smile on his face. “It’s just…doesn’t everything need some suspension of disbelief to work? You now know unicorns and phoenixes and werewolves exist. You know there are other therianthropes at our school. It’s not my place to tell you who they are, but I know that Kevin-hyung won’t mind me telling you he’s involved as well.”

Joonmyun runs all sorts of animals, real and mythological, through his head. “Is Kevin a dragon?” he finally asks.

Chanyeol looks at him as if he has three heads. “No. Don’t be ridiculous,” he says. “Dragons don’t exist.”

After a moment of just staring at Chanyeol in wide-eyed disbelief, this time Joonmyun can’t help the laughter that wracks through him, and he falls off his chair and onto the carpet.

“What did I say?” Chanyeol asks a similarly-laughing Yixing, who can’t stop in order to tell him.

~*~*~

Joonmyun heads home shortly after, but not before he asks to be introduced to the other guardians of the woods and school; the other shifters. As long as they’re okay with it. Chanyeol promises to ask, and then Joonmyun’s off, to play with his puppy and do his homework and hope his parents don’t scold him. They don’t.

Monday comes almost too quickly for him. The first thing Chanyeol does, once they’ve finished eating lunch, is drag him away from the table and from Baekhyun, Jongdae and Kyungsoo. He leads him down corridors and corridors. “The group says they’ll meet you after school,” he says. “First, we’re going to meet someone.” He doesn’t sound pleased. It can’t be a friend, then.

Chanyeol leads him to a quiet classroom on the far end of the school, and he barges in forcefully, the door banging off the wall. A boy sitting in a chair at the back of the room, far from the door, jumps upright from where he’d been sleeping slumped over his desk. He has dark circles under his eyes and looks like he hasn’t slept in days. Despite the fact he seems tall, he manages to look tiny as he curls up—tiny and young; probably no older than fifteen. Joonmyun feels a sympathetic tug on his heartstrings.

“Jongin,” Chanyeol begins. “This is Joonmyun.” He pulls Joonmyun to stand in front of him. Joonmyun isn’t sure what to do, so he lets him. “He’s the person you almost killed on Friday.”

 _Oh_. This is the werewolf. Joonmyun isn’t quite sure he feels sorry for him any longer. Friday night was terrifying.

But Jongin doesn’t look happy. In fact, he looks sick. “I’m sorry,” he says, softly, and bows. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Joonmyun says, at the same time Chanyeol says, “Of course he’s not fine!”

Joonmyun looks at Chanyeol, who continues with, “You were a mess on Saturday,” as if that answers everything.

“I’m really sorry,” Jongin says, but he doesn’t continue.

“It’s your fault,” Chanyeol says. “You should be locked up. The number of animals in the woods that you’ve killed in the past year? It’s a wonder someone hasn’t noticed there’s a wolf in the woods and euthanised you.” He doesn’t say it like it would be a bad thing, but more like he’s sad he’s not the one able to do it.

Joonmyun loves Chanyeol, but this vindictive Chanyeol isn’t one he’s at all fond of. He thinks he might be sick. In fact, as bile rises in his throat, he knows he will. “I need to go,” he says, and staggers out and towards the nearest toilet, where he empties his stomach into the first one. This is all too much for him.

The next moment there’s a hand against his spine, rubbing gently, and Joonmyun knows it’s Chanyeol without turning to face him. This is his Chanyeol; the one who’ll try and soothe his aches. But he doesn’t want to see him right now.

He pulls away after flushing, and takes a swig from the drinking tap, swilling it around in his mouth and trying to calm himself down, before turning to face Chanyeol. “Don’t be so mean to him,” he says. “He doesn’t mean it.”

“He’s a werewolf!” Chanyeol replies, after checking to make sure none of the other cubicles are occupied. “He means it. And he’s dangerous.”

“I don’t think you can say that without checking. We should ask him if he’s aware of what he does as a wolf.”

Chanyeol sighs. “Hyung, you’re too kind. He’ll just lie to you to make himself look innocent when he’s not. He’s worthy of just as much blame as the wolf. I don’t know how you can’t see that. He nearly killed you.”

“The wolf nearly killed me,” Joonmyun corrects. “And, actually, the wolf never came near me, because you were there.”

“He would have killed you,” Chanyeol says.

“I’m not arguing about that,” Joonmyun says. “I just think you’re being too hasty. I don’t believe that he’d lie to me. Considering you told him he nearly killed me; if he says he remembers but doesn’t remember details, it’ll be easy to tell.” He reaches up to pat Chanyeol’s cheek. “It’ll be fine, Chanyeol. I know what I’m doing.”

Chanyeol opens his mouth to protest, but Joonmyun leaves the toilet before he can say anything.

~*~*~

He doesn’t go back to see Jongin that day, because the bell rings once he leaves the toilets. He heads to class and takes his usual seat at the front, ignoring Yixing’s attempt at a friendly smile. He doesn’t want to be reminded of that world right now. He just wants to study.

But once school is over, Chanyeol leads him to his house by the hand, though not as fast as he had at lunchtime.

Only Yixing is there once they arrive, and they settle down with a bowl of popcorn and a video game until the first ring of the doorbell.

The first person to arrive is Kevin, who tugs his boots off loudly and then beelines straight for Joonmyun. He ruffles his hair. “Hey, kid, are you okay?” he asks kindly. Joonmyun just nods, and Kevin settles down beside him to watch as Chanyeol destroys them at Mario Kart. Joonmyun gives up and hands over to Kevin, who plays with a grin on his face.

Joonmyun doesn’t really think he should be surprised when, half an hour later, Baekhyun, Jongdae and Kyungsoo arrive.

“You’re involved in this as well?” he finds himself anyway, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. All his friends were involved in something secretive without his knowledge. It actually quite hurts.

“Sorry,” Baekhyun says, though he doesn’t sound at all sorry. Jongdae shrugs. The only one who looks sad about it is Kyungsoo, who crosses to sit on the other side of Joonmyun.

“Well, I _am_ sorry,” Kyungsoo says. “But Jongdae and I aren’t like the rest. It just wasn’t right for us to say anything about it.”

Jongdae frowns. “Rub it in, why don’t you,” he mutters. Joonmyun wonders what they mean. He supposes he’ll find out soon enough.

Joonmyun doesn’t know the next two who arrive; two kids in first year. One of them has white blond hair, and the other a kind of off-lavender pink. Joonmyun thinks they must be in detention a lot and wonders how they get away with it, without having to dye their hair back to natural colours.

The blond one is called Huang Zitao, and the other one is Oh Sehun. They greet him and the rest politely and then move to sit in the corner together, whispering and giggling to each other as they go. Joonmyun finds himself absently comparing their derrières to Chanyeol’s. They’re vast improvements.

The final two are also unknown to Joonmyun. They’re both young-looking boys who turn out to both be at university, like Kevin. They’d taken a train back here for the meeting, apparently; their first time back in a few weeks. The one with red hair is Kim Minseok and the other, the brown haired one, is his best friend, Lu Han.

Once they’re all there, Chanyeol leads them to his bedroom, where there are a ring of chairs. They all take seats as if there is a seating arrangement. Joonmyun hovers nervously until Chanyeol pulls him over to sit beside him.

“Everyone, this is Joonmyun,” he announces. “The wolf almost got him last week, and Yixing-hyung and I had to rescue him.”

Kyungsoo jerks forward in his seat and Baekhyun almost topples Jongdae off his chair with flailing arms. Kevin looks angry. Clearly none of them had been informed of this already.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Kyungsoo asks, at the same time as Baekhyun’s, “Did you think we didn’t need to know?”

Jongdae, however, smiles wryly, and goes with, “At least I’m not the only one who nearly became a werewolf’s lunch.”

Even in his confused state, Joonmyun finds it funny, and he covers his mouth as he laughs quietly, Jongdae joining in shortly afterwards. Joonmyun can’t really explain it. It’s not funny that they almost died. Maybe it’s delayed onset of hysterics.

Chanyeol begins when they’re finished, talking as if he’s the leader. “I wanted Joonmyun to meet all of you, properly. No secrets. I wanted him to know what we do to protect people like him every day, the three days of every full moon.”

Kevin sighs. “Understandably.” He turns to Minseok. “Oldest first,” he says, with a smile.

Minseok rolls his eyes. “I’m a squirrel,” he says shortly. “When I transform, it’s my duty to do all the small tasks, including getting up into tall trees and burrowing into the ground to attack without being seen. I have excellent eyesight.”

Lu Han is a reindeer.

“I didn’t know there were reindeer in South Korea,” Joonmyun says.

Lu Han just smiles innocently at him. “There weren’t,” he says cheerfully.

Kevin is next. “I’m a Pixiu,” he says. “It’s a mythical Chinese beast. Though not so mythical after all.” He indicates himself, with a wry grin. “It has the head of a dragon, the body of a lion, and the hooves of a qilin; which is like a Chinese unicorn.”

Joonmyun just blinks at him. “I have no idea what that means,” he says honestly.

“It’s okay,” Kevin says. “You’ll see soon enough, and it’ll make sense to you then.”

Baekhyun follows, and Joonmyun just looks at him in surprise as Baekhyun explains that he is a weasel, but that he was not born as one.

“I thought ther-theri-ther- _shapeshifting_ was inherited?” Joonmyun manages, stumbling over the word. Chanyeol frowns.

“ _Therianthropy_ ,” he pauses, “ _is_ inherited. Baekhyun just had late-onset development of it.” He looks proud of himself, and Joonmyun, somewhat unkindly, wonders if he even knows the meaning of the words he just said.

Baekhyun shrugs. “Neither of my parents are weasels, nor is my brother,” he says. “And my grandparents are dead, so I can’t ask if it skipped a generation. It’s possible, but it seems more likely to me that I developed it when I got involved with the group. Though that’s not always the case.”

Joonmyun doesn’t need to ask what he means by this, because they skip directly to Zitao, who is a tiger, and an apparently extremely fierce one at that, and then Sehun, who is a ram. Joonmyun absently wonders if the ram is pink. It would certainly be interesting to have naturally pink wool.

Joonmyun turns to Kyungsoo and Jongdae last, who shrug their shoulders.

“I’m as human as you are,” Kyungsoo says.

“It sucks,” Jongdae grumbles. “Our job is to babysit or to be the lookouts. It’s boring.” He grins. “But now we have you as well! Extra fun!”

Joonmyun presumes that he is the fun. With Jongdae, he usually is.

“So most of you are shapeshifters?” Joonmyun confirms slowly. Chanyeol buries his head in his hands. “And there are three of us who are human.”

“Yup,” most of the group chorus.

“So, uh, what do we do now?” Joonmyun asks.

The group look at each other, and then shrug.

“Business as usual.”

~*~*~

The next day Joonmyun skips lunch with his friends and trawls through the corridors of the school, trying to find the werewolf. He wants to hear, directly from him, what he knows about himself and what he does during the full moons.

He’s not in the same room he was last time. Joonmyun wonders how Chanyeol knew where to find him, if he’s prone to moving, or if Chanyeol’s visit scared him into doing so.

It takes him another ten minutes to find him, in the unused drama classroom. It’s used mostly as a storage facility these days and Joonmyun had only thought of it on a whim.

Jongin is cowering at the back of the room, knees pulled to his chest. Although he’s tall, he looks small like this, and very scared. Joonmyun knows he couldn’t have known he was coming, so this must be how he is every day—scared of the world around him, maybe even of the wolf himself.

“Hi,” Joonmyun says, quietly, trying not to startle him. “Jongin?”

Jongin jumps anyway, and when he sees who it is, somehow manages to curl up even further into himself.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Joonmyun says, and swallows down a _how could I?_ because he’s afraid Jongin will take it as a dig. “I just want to talk to you.”

“That’s what they all say,” Jongin whispers, and it’s bitter.

Joonmyun keeps going regardless, “It’s about what happens to you when you—you know.”

“When I’m a wolf?” Jongin says, and that seems to rile him up, and his voice builds. “You _are_ just the same as the rest of them. I said I’m sorry, okay? I can’t control him. I don’t have control like the rest of them have. I can’t change whenever I want. I get turned, and he takes over.”

It’s just as Chanyeol suggested; that he would say he didn’t know. But Joonmyun doesn’t feel like it’s a lie to save the wolf. He nods. “How long have you been a wolf for, Jongin?”

Jongin looks at him for a moment, possibly assessing whether he should answer. “Two years,” he says. “I turned the week before my thirteenth birthday. I’ll never forget what happened.” He looks down at his hands. “I nearly killed my mum.”

“You didn’t know?” Joonmyun asks.

Jongin’s mouth twitches, before settling back to neutral. “No. I didn’t know. Now I do.”

Somehow the fact that the young boy before him had been turned against his knowledge the first time tugs at Joonmyun’s heartstrings, but when he goes to hug the boy, Jongin pulls himself behind an old table, to give himself protection. Joonmyun stops in his tracks and holds his hands up before himself. “I won’t move, Jongin,” he says. “Not if you don’t want me to.”

Seeing him be so scared of the world hurts. Joonmyun wants to show Jongin how wonderful the world is. But Jongin, the wolf, is part of what scared him. The wolf is part of the danger in the world. Joonmyun can’t.

“Could you leave me alone?” Jongin says, enough of a question that Joonmyun isn’t offended.

“Okay. Bye, Jongin,” he says softly, and shuts the door behind him, leaving Jongin alone in the dark of the room.

~*~*~

“He doesn’t know what happens when he’s a wolf,” Joonmyun says to Chanyeol later that day. “I’m sure of it, Chanyeol.”

“How are you so sure?”

It was a hunch, but he didn’t want to say that. “He didn’t even know he was a werewolf before he first turned,” he says instead.

Chanyeol frowns. “All forms of therianthropy, including lycanthropy, are inherited, regardless of what Baekhyun says. He has to have known because his parents would have transformed.”

“Yes, and I’m sure he would remember if he was bitten by a large dog,” Joonmyun agrees. “That kind of thing is traumatic for small children.”

“True,” Chanyeol concedes. He has a blank look on his face as he says, “That’s very interesting. It’s on Baekhyun levels of interesting.”

Joonmyun wonders what that means, but he doesn’t ask, and Chanyeol doesn’t tell him.

“Please don’t go and see him again alone,” Chanyeol says.

“I can handle it,” Joonmyun says. “He’s not a wolf, he’s just a scared human. I’ll be fine.”

Chanyeol looks unconvinced.

~*~*~

Against Chanyeol’s wishes, Joonmyun goes back to see Jongin the next day. He’s in a different classroom this time, again curled up at the back. Joonmyun sits in one of the chairs at the front of the room and watches him for twenty minutes without saying anything. Jongin stays curled up and looks like he’s going to sleep, but there’s a stillness in his body that suggests it’s an illusion, that he’s not going to show weakness in front of Joonmyun. Joonmyun can understand and sympathise; Jongin still doesn’t know if he’s going to hurt him or not. He’s nowhere near trusting him. If Joonmyun were a scared werewolf, he wouldn’t trust anyone, either.

He goes to sit with Jongin every lunchtime, after this, spending five minutes on—pardon the pun— _wolfing_ his food down, before taking the next five to ten minutes searching the school for the new room Jongin has settled into. They sit in silence together. After two days, Joonmyun brings books with him, schoolbooks and novels alike. He offers them to Jongin. For the first three days of books, Jongin refuses, but on the fourth he nervously takes a novel from Joonmyun. He twitches as he reads, turning the pages painfully slowly, but still, he reads. Joonmyun feels like he’s accomplished something.

It’s another three school days, ten days since the first day he went to find Jongin, before Jongin begins to talk to him. Firstly, he thanks Joonmyun for the books, and then he starts to ask about him.

“I’m seventeen,” Joonmyun says, answering various questions. “I have an older brother at university, and a puppy who’s really cute. I like Maths, and I want to be a teacher when I’m older.”

“Girlfriend?” Jongin asks.

Joonmyun shrugs. “Not really interested in dating anyone right now,” he says.

Jongin nods. “Why are you so interested in me?” he asks in a whisper.

Joonmyun is sitting in the middle of the room today, closer to Jongin but not close enough to reach out and take his hand in his. He’s thought about this long and hard, why he’s so interested in getting to know the werewolf, and he thinks he’s finally come to a conclusion. “Everyone deserves a friend,” he says bluntly. “And I don’t think you have any.”

Jongin shakes his head. “I don’t. Friends get injured, and then they don’t come back. So I don’t make friends.” He lifts his head to look at Joonmyun. “I don’t want to hurt you again, Joonmyun-sshi.”

“Call me Hyung,” Joonmyun says with a smile. “And that just means we need to train your wolf to recognise who’s friend and who’s foe.”

“But I don’t want you getting hurt, H-hyung,” Jongin says, physically forcing the honorific out. “Not like before.”

Joonmyun shrugs with a smile. “Don’t worry. It won’t be me doing it.”

~*~*~

The next time there is a group meeting—this time without their three eldest—Joonmyun brings up his theory.

“Chanyeol doesn’t like this,” Joonmyun begins, looking at his best friend, before turning to face the rest. “But I have a theory that if we send other therianthropes”—He says the word confidently, having practised it in order to keep Chanyeol happy—“out with the wolf, in a kind of pack, that he’ll be less aggressive. We may even be able to train him to know the difference between a friend and an enemy.”

Chanyeol grimaces as he says this, and Joonmyun turns away from him to look at the rest of the group, doing his best to appeal to the four other shapeshifters in the room.

They talk amongst each other for a few moments, considering their options. A unicorn, a weasel, a tiger and a ram would make a rather interesting pack along with a wolf, Joonmyun thinks. It would definitely be a sight to paint, though he doubts he’d ever get the chance.

“I think it sounds okay,” Sehun says finally. “I mean, we can certainly try.”

“There’s no harm in trying,” Zitao says cheerfully. Joonmyun wonders if he is an idealist.

The rest of them agree, even Jongdae and Kyungsoo, who, of course, have no shapeshifting abilities of their own. Chanyeol slides slowly down his chair as if he wants to hide, but eventually he says, “Okay, we’ll try it once. See if you can make the wolf listen, but I don’t know how you’ll manage it. He’s a beast, after all.”

Joonmyun does his best not to show his elation at this decision. They have a chance to settle the wolf, a chance to make him less dangerous. If the wolf isn’t as dangerous, maybe Jongin will come out of his shell. Maybe he will be able to have friends who wouldn’t leave him.

Joonmyun doesn’t know how he’s become as attached to the werewolf boy in only two short weeks, but he has. He wants to be friends with him. He wants Chanyeol to like him, to stop threatening him. He wants to introduce him to their whole group. He thinks he’d like Sehun and Zitao, who are the same age as him.

Jongin seems harmless enough. He doesn’t deserve this pressure, being alone without friends. All Joonmyun manages to get out of him is that his home is far away. His parents sent him away to the school when his lycanthropy developed, and he hasn’t seen them since. He’s been at the school for two years, and Joonmyun never noticed him, or heard anything about him.

“How come I never heard anything about Jongin?” he finally asks aloud, turning towards Chanyeol.

“We told you the rumours about the ghosts and the wolves in the woods,” Jongdae says, but leaves it to Chanyeol to tell his story.

It transpires that Chanyeol’s known about the wolf since the beginning, when his family first discovered small, dead animals in the woods. It was after Joonmyun had begun tutoring Chanyeol and they became friends, but before their friendship group had been formed. Chanyeol had mostly been friends with Jongdae and Kyungsoo back then, whereas Joonmyun had had Kevin and Baekhyun. It was before Baekhyun had developed therianthropy. Before any of them knew what it was like to be in charge of a task as important as this.

Chanyeol had known there was a wolf, and his job, even then, had been to watch over it and see the damage it did. It wasn’t until later, when he learnt about the first year who had managed to scare away some of his year with growling noises and strange eyes, that he’d put two and two together.

“Jongin doesn’t have strange eyes,” Joonmyun points out.

“He does around the full moon,” Yixing says. “His eyes change colour the nearer to losing control he is. For werewolves, there are three days that are important, both days before and after the full moon, and the full moon itself. They shift all three of these nights, but it’s strongest on the full moon. The day the wolf almost hurt you was the day after. If you had seen him at school that day, you may have seen his eyes lighten as the day went on, until they were a brown-gold.”

“When his friends saw his eyes change colour, they got scared,” Chanyeol says. “And they left him.”

Jongin hadn’t said anything about this to Joonmyun. Considering it wasn’t his fault, he wonders why. “Oh,” he says. “That doesn’t sound that scary.”

“Trust me,” Chanyeol says. “In any form, he’s scary.” Even Jongdae, who doesn’t get scared, nods his head and Joonmyun wonders if he’s right.

But deep in his heart Joonmyun doesn’t believe that Jongin, fifteen year old, scared Jongin, is as scary as they say he is. He doesn’t say this. Instead, he says, “I’ll tell Jongin that you’re going to try and help him.”

Chanyeol sighs. “Be careful,” he says.

Joonmyun smiles. “Don’t worry, Dad,” he teases, reaching out to pat Chanyeol’s cheek. “I’ll be fine.”

~*~*~

The next day finds Jongin curled up in his usual chair. There’s still no sign of food.

“Hello, Jongin,” Joonmyun says with a smile, settling in his chair two seats away. He fishes out a boxed lunch he’d brought from home; rice and sliced chicken pieces. “Are you hungry? I made a bit extra.”

In fact, he’d deliberately made a little bit too much, not enough to seem suspicious but enough to fill a stomach. He’d eaten most of it and had to save the rest from Jongdae’s beady eyes.

Jongin looks over at it and he can see the suspicion in his eyes under the hunger. Joonmyun only feels a little saddened that Jongin doesn’t trust him after two weeks, and he spoons up some of the rice and eats it. “I’m not the world’s best cook, I’ll give you that,” he says. “But it’s not going to make you sick or anything?”

Apparently those were the magic words, because Jongin says quietly, “Well, if it’ll just go to waste?” His stomach grumbles quietly and Joonmyun smiles, handing the box over to him.

“Oh,” he says, looking down at the spoon he’s just used, realising that he hadn’t brought another one with him. “I’ll just go and clean this for you?”

“It’s fine,” Jongin says, and he stands and leans over to grab it. He’s tall, when he stands, easily a head or more taller than Joonmyun. With him leaning over like this, Joonmyun can understand why people would think Jongin was scary, but he knows better.

At this angle, Joonmyun can see where Jongin’s school uniform hangs loosely from his body and realises that Jongin is a lot skinnier than he should be. He wonders how much food he gets and swallows hard.

Jongin eats like a starved animal, which doesn’t help to appease his fears. He uses wooden chopsticks from his own bag to shovel chicken into his mouth as quickly as he can and almost inhales rice. Joonmyun finds himself bridging the gap between them that’s been there since the first day and taking hold of Jongin’s wrist. “Don’t eat so quickly,” he says, when Jongin looks up at him with fear in his eyes, like he’s going to take the food from him. “You’ll get sick.”

Jongin nods obediently, marginally slowing his eating speed as Joonmyun returns to his seat. “Thank you,” he whispers when he’s finished eating, placing the box and utensils gently on the desk before him.

“It’s no problem,” Joonmyun says, though he doesn’t want to push any further, in case Jongin seals himself off again. He stands and takes the box away from Jongin and puts them in his bag, and then throws the chopsticks into the bin. “I have something to tell you.”

Jongin stills, watching him with cautious eyes.

“It’s nothing bad,” Joonmyun says hastily. “I was talking to Chanyeol and the others about the wolf.”

Jongin seems to bristle, and Joonmyun realises that he has come at this from the wrong angle. He'd never asked Jongin’s permission.

“I’m sorry I didn’t ask you first,” he says. “I wanted to do something nice for you.”

“By talking about me with my enemies?” he asks, and he’s holding himself like a dog about to pounce.

Joonmyun feels cowed. He’d thought he was doing the right thing, doing something good for Jongin, but maybe he was wrong. “I wanted to ask if they would run with you in wolf form,” Joonmyun says. “I think that if the wolf had company, maybe he wouldn’t be so violent? Sehun and Zitao said that they would. The next full moon, if the wolf will have them, they will run with him.”

Jongin studies him for a moment. “You’re telling me that they won’t attack the wolf, and they expect the wolf not to attack them, after all that they have done to him?” He scoffs, sounding scornful at the suggestion.

“It’s worth trying,” Joonmyun says. “It might work.”

“You’ve read too much Harry Potter, Hyung,” Jongin says. Joonmyun blushes, because he’s probably right.

“I was just thinking about you,” he says. “About how much better it will be for you—”

Jongin cuts him off. “You were thinking about yourself, Hyung,” he says. “You were thinking about how to keep yourself safe from me, from the wolf.”

And maybe under everything, maybe he was thinking about himself. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t thinking about Jongin too.

“I’m sorry I made you unhappy,” is what he says instead. “But I think it could really work.”

“I know what is going to happen,” Jongin says. “Either they or the wolf will attack each other. There will be no friendship between the beasts.”

“It’s worth trying,” Joonmyun repeats meekly, but he stands. “I’ll leave you, then.” And he picks up his bag and leaves the room.

That hadn’t gone how he’d planned it at all, he thinks sadly.

~*~*~

He doesn’t go back the next day, or, indeed, for the rest of the week. He stays and eats lunch with his friends and talks with them about inane things like after school clubs—Jongdae and Kyungsoo are involved in the choir, and there’s a new music club starting—and homework, but his mind is always partially on Jongin. He wonders whether Jongin is eating, and whether he is lonely without him around. Then again, Jongin had been fine without him for two years; just because they were together for two weeks, when they barely spoke, probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

Joonmyun does his best to stop thinking about Jongin over the weekend as he does his homework and plays with his puppy and avoids his friends. However, it is difficult. The werewolf boy has wormed his way inside Joonmyun’s mind and he doesn’t want to forget him, or give up on him.

It is one week until the first full moon since everything started for Joonmyun. One week until they see if the werewolf is capable of taking a pack, or if it is to be a lone wolf forever. Joonmyun prays, in his heart, that it will work out for everyone.

Selfishly, he hopes that maybe if the wolf becomes less dangerous, Jongin will want to be friends with him. Maybe he’ll stop casting everyone out of his life.

But even so, he stays away from him that coming week, even though staying away for two weeks is hard. Joonmyun has never had a fight with any of his friends that lasted this long. He usually apologises quickly because he can’t bear to be without them. This is a new record. It’s not a good thing.

Instead, he joins the new music club along with Chanyeol and Yixing. It takes place at the same time as choir and the martial arts club Baekhyun is part of, or they would probably have joined as well.

Being in a club gives Joonmyun a chance to unwind and relax. The first session goes by in a blaze of campy glee glory: group a cappella singing to a western pop song in the top 10. Joonmyun isn’t particularly good at singing but he enjoys it almost as much as he enjoys painting.

When the end of the session comes, they’re given the task of choosing a song to sing as a solo or in a duet. Joonmyun hates the idea of singing alone, but he already has an idea of what he’d like to sing. He just wishes he had someone to sing with.

~*~*~

Before he knows it, he wakes up Thursday morning, the day before the full moon.

Tonight is the first of the three nights that the wolf is going to turn, and even though Jongin brushed off the idea of running with a pack, there’s a bubble of excitement running through Joonmyun’s veins. He wants it to work almost desperately.

When he gets to school, he can’t stop fidgeting. Yixing sits next to him in the classes they share and tries to take his hands to stop them from tapping his pen on the table. It only takes a few tugs for Joonmyun to relent, and Yixing tries to keep him still.

“There’s no need to get this excited,” he whispers, except there is. Even though it isn’t much, and it won’t be the end of the world if the wolf doesn’t take to the other shapeshifters, or the shapeshifters can’t resist the urge to attack the wolf, Joonmyun still feels like there is a lot riding on this. If he’s right, there is the possibility they will change Jongin’s schooling experiences forever.

“I can’t help it,” Joonmyun whispers back, but he does his best to still his movements. He’s still bouncing off the walls internally, and there’s little that he can do to stop that.

During lunch, they decide that it would be better for everyone involved if Joonmyun and Jongdae go to Kyungsoo’s house for a sleepover in the evening. It’s the furthest house away from the woods, and therefore would make it harder for Joonmyun to find out what is happening. Joonmyun finds the assumption that he’d endanger himself to see if the wolf likes company rather a little insulting, but consents all the same. At least with company he’ll be less inclined to imagine possibilities.

Baekhyun volunteers to join them. “I haven’t been to yours for a long time, Kyungsoo,” he says. “And the rest of them don’t need me. Four is enough.”

Four is probably even too many, but they had decided that it would be safest if Chanyeol and Yixing go with their two youngest, in case the wolf takes it badly. Sehun and Zitao have fought the wolf before without the others, but this is a different and new situation for everyone. They need four.

“You’re right,” Chanyeol says. “We don’t need you.” He doesn’t say it meanly, it’s more of a tease. Until Jongin, Joonmyun hadn’t realised that Chanyeol even had a mean bone in his body, but now he knows better. He just hopes he can fix that. “You can do whatever you boys do when you’re together. Watch games. Eat. Make out.”

Kyungsoo throws his metal spoon at Chanyeol and it bounces off his forehead, falling to the table with a clang. Chanyeol clutches his hands to where it hit and makes pained whingeing noises.

“Kyungsoo!” he whines pathetically, as the rest of them just laugh at him.

As far as Joonmyun is aware, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo aren’t in a relationship. This doesn’t mean they aren’t actually in a relationship, it just means that they haven’t told him.

And they don’t appear to be about to change this, as once they all stop laughing, Baekhyun bursts out that he has a new noraebang video game that he’d like to try out with all of them. “Together we have the best voices in the school,” he says confidently. “I bet we’d own it.”

This effectively gets Jongdae excited. Jongdae loves everything involving singing. Watching them be so happy, Joonmyun smiles and says it will be fun. It’ll definitely give him something else to think about.

~*~*~

The afternoon races by, and soon school is finished. They all head their separate ways to pack their bags for the sleepover. Joonmyun’s mother drops him off at Kyungsoo’s after she makes him promise to do all his homework before playing games.

Kyungsoo lets him in quickly and Joonmyun toes off his shoes next to the long line of others, suggesting that at least one of their friends and one of Kyungsoo’s parents is home.

“Come up,” Kyungsoo says, and leads him up a flight of wooden stairs and along a clean, white corridor. The closer they get to his room, the louder So Nyeo Shi Dae’s _Gee_ gets, and Joonmyun realises that Baekhyun must already be there.

It’s only another five minutes before Jongdae shows up, and then Baekhyun shoves them onto Kyungsoo’s bed like he lives there, before plugging four microphones into Kyungsoo’s games console. He shares out the microphones and starts up the game.

They cycle their way through _Gee_ —complete with dance moves—, 2NE1’s _Fire_ , DBSK’s _Mirotic_ , 2PM’s _10 Out of 10_ , Super Junior’s _Sorry, Sorry_ , and many other songs from the years before. Quite a few hours are wasted before they’re called to dinner and Joonmyun remembers the promise he’d made his mother.

Kyungsoo’s parents are nice, and although Joonmyun has never met them before, they welcome him like one of the family.

“It’s nice to meet some of Kyungsoo’s friends,” his mother says. “Aside from Baekhyun here, and Chanyeol, of course. How is that boy?”

“He’s fine,” Kyungsoo assures her. “Just busy.”

Joonmyun looks out the window at the darkening sky and wonders just how busy he already is.

~*~*~

_As the moon rises, the young, naked boy, standing in the darkest part of the woods, begins to shift. His body contorts and he screams as his bones break, twisting into new forms which don’t agree with his human body. The screams soon become growls as his jaw and nose lengthen into a snout, and his vocal cords change, losing the ability to make human sounds. The human teeth, nails and hair fall out and new ones grow in place, fur sprouting all over the wolf’s body._

_The wolf stands tall and proud, his eyes a dark gold, and he howls. His howl, he believes, will scare away his enemies and other predators. This wood belongs to him._

_He has only been there for a few moments when he hears rustling behind him, and he turns to face a large predator, bigger than he is, solid and furry with a long tail. There is a smaller creature next to it. It smells of food but its large curled horns suggest that he will not get close enough to eat it. Behind are the flying monster that attacks him and the shining beast with the single pointed horn._

_He growls, and braces himself for attack, but none comes. Instead, the predator crouches before him, lifting its head so its throat can be seen._

_The wolf realises that this beast is submitting to him, as it rightfully should, and he seizes the chance to rip its throat out. He hunkers down on all fours, ready to pounce, when an object is dropped from above._

_He jumps out of the way of the flying thing. When he lands, he realises that it is food, although it is already dead. But he is hungry, and dead food is better than no food._

_He sniffs the meat to make sure it is safe to eat, and then dives in. Maybe he will let the beast live another day._

_Once he has finished his meal, the other animals are still there, resting on the ground. None of them seem interested in attacking._

_The wolf is full from its meal and it doesn’t believe that these beasts will kill him, or they would have done so already, so he rolls onto his back to scratch an itch. When he sits up, the large beast is grooming itself and the strange animal next to it, rubbing its paws over its horns._

_The wolf yips so that they will pay him attention. If they are here, they may as well play with him._

_He wags his tail and crouches down, yipping, and the beast pulls away from its small friend to face him, pulling back into a similar crouch. It waves its own long, smooth tail, and the wolf pounces._

_They roll each other over across the floor, and chase each other through the trees. The wolf yaps happily as he runs, having not had this much fun in a long time. As a lone wolf, he never has any chance to play. The small beasts can’t outrun him before he eats them._

_They run through the night, the other two land beasts joining in after some time, as the one with the wings watches. He barks at this beast, hoping that it will join them, but three are as good. The winged beast refuses to join, but stays watching. As long as it stays, the wolf doesn’t mind._

_Eventually, the wolf gets tired. He slumps to the ground next to the large beast and nips at its muzzle. The beast patiently allows the bite that seals them as pack, and waits for him to do so for the other beasts, before rolling onto its side so the wolf can fit next to him. Then he begins to groom the wolf, licking over his fur the way a mother would do, if the wolf had a mother._

_The wolf falls asleep._

_The wolf is asleep during its transformation back into the human boy for the first time in his entire life, and for the first time he can’t feel the pain._

~*~*~

The next day, Jongin ventures out of his classroom at lunch time.

Joonmyun is sitting in the cafeteria with the rest of them, yawning. They have all been transferring yawns to each other for over ten minutes; Chanyeol for obvious wolf-related reasons, and the rest of them because Baekhyun had kept them up gossiping well into the night. Joonmyun suddenly wonders why he never noticed that some days Chanyeol is really tired. Maybe he just hid it better. Or maybe Joonmyun thought he spent it playing video games late into the night. He’d never have guessed the real reason.

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo had shared the bed and Jongdae and Joonmyun were left to the futon and the floor. Jongdae had won _gawibawibwo_ , as Joonmyun had suspected he would. Joonmyun’s back aches, but he’d never say so.

Chanyeol refuses to say how the previous night had gone, though his smile says enough, Joonmyun thinks.

Suddenly the table grows quiet, and Chanyeol’s eyes widen.

“Hyung,” comes a quiet voice, and Joonmyun turns to find Jongin standing there, tall and thin in his oversized school uniform.

“Hello!” Joonmyun says with a smile. “Do you want to join us? I think I’ve got some extra food you could have.”

Jongin shakes his head. “I just wanted to say thank you,” he says, and then he turns to Chanyeol and bows to him. “To you as well. Last night was…” He rolls the words around in his mouth for a moment. “Good,” he finishes.

Joonmyun watches Chanyeol, whose face goes through a varied range of emotions, before it settles on polite acceptance. “I’m glad you were manageable,” he says. Joonmyun kicks him. From the sounds of pain Chanyeol makes for the next few seconds, Joonmyun wasn’t the only one. “You’re welcome,” Chanyeol tacks on begrudgingly.

“You don’t have to come tonight if it is a problem,” Jongin says, and Chanyeol shakes his head.

“No, we’ll be there tonight and tomorrow,” he says. “It’s easier to keep an eye on you this way.”

Jongin nods and whispers his gratitude, and then turns to Joonmyun. He bows. “I’m sorry,” he breathes.

“It’s fine,” Joonmyun says, and he smiles. “Really. And you’re welcome to sit with us any time.”

Jongin shakes his head and, with a third bow, leaves them.

“You need to learn how to speak publicly,” Baekhyun says to Chanyeol.

“I don’t like him,” Chanyeol tells him, frowning. “And just because last night wasn’t bad doesn’t mean that he’s suddenly great. The wolf did still try to kill Hyung and Jongdae.”

“And now he won’t,” Joonmyun says. “He’s got you to look after him. I know you’ll do a good job.”

Chanyeol sighs. “I’ll do my best,” he says.

“As long as you stop being rude,” Kyungsoo adds, and Chanyeol rolls his eyes.

“Fine, I’ll try and hold it in next time,” he says. “You guys are so picky.”

 

They all kick him again.

~*~*~

The group meet up on Sunday along with their three oldest members, who they fill in on the situation. Joonmyun doesn’t get to speak to any of them before then, so he is perched on the edge of his seat, waiting for the news of what happened during the full moon and the following night.

“We have now run with the wolf three times,” Yixing says. “He welcomed us back as his pack like we had never left. He is young and he mostly just wants to play, as long as we keep in line and do as he wishes, which he lets us know quickly. If we feed him and play with him, I think we will be able to stop him from being quite as dangerous.”

There is some kind of quiet cheer that spreads around the room. This is a different kind of task, one that is less violent. Few of them enjoyed attacking the wolf, but wanting to play is something most teenagers can understand and sympathise with.

“So it worked then?” Joonmyun asks. “My idea worked, for all three nights?”

Chanyeol nods. “It did,” he says.

Lu Han and Kevin volunteer to run the following full moon with Yixing and Chanyeol, as the youngest two already know that they have practice exams to study for. They need all the weekends and evenings they can get.

They fall into casual discussion about shapeshifting, about schoolwork, and about what exams the two are taking, and Joonmyun starts to daydream, imagining how to paint a beautiful scene of a wolf playing with a unicorn and a phoenix.

~*~*~

Monday comes quickly. Soon they’re sitting together for lunch, Chanyeol and Joonmyun discussing songs they’re considering performing for the club. Chanyeol is thinking about asking Yixing to perform a guitar duet with him.

“Yixing-hyung likes slow things,” he says. “I think we could do something acoustic? That would be really pretty.”

The other three are fighting over who gets the last jelly tube, when a quiet voice asks, from behind them, “Can I have it, please?”

They all turn to face Jongin, who is standing there, looking at his feet and shuffling in place.

Joonmyun doesn’t wait for them to agree, just snatches up the jelly and hands it to Jongin. “Of course you can,” he says with a smile.

Jongin hovers there for a few moments, and then Joonmyun says, “Grab a chair,” and to his utmost surprise, Jongin does, pulling one over from the empty table next to them. Joonmyun scoots over to give him room.

Chanyeol gives Joonmyun a small, judging look, but he just smiles back.

Having Jongin there isn’t too different from not having Jongin there, as he barely speaks. He just sucks away at his jelly slowly and nods along to what the group says.

The only time he speaks is when Baekhyun mentions how it’s a pity the youngest two aren’t going to be around as much, and he says, “I have exams too.” He frowns.

“What day is the next— _you know_?” Joonmyun asks, in case anyone is eavesdropping.

“It’s a Sunday,” Jongin says, at the same time as Chanyeol says, “Sunday.” Joonmyun nods.

“Do you have any exams on Monday or Tuesday?” he asks.

Jongin shakes his head. “But I have them Wednesday to Friday,” he says, “so I don’t have a lot of time to do any last-minute studying, so I need to revise.” He bites his lip. “It’s a little difficult though.”

Jongdae lets out a little half-laugh and stage-whispers to Kyungsoo, “I think we all know where this is going.”

Joonmyun ignores him. “What do you need help on?” he asks.

“English,” Jongin says. “I’m not very good at it. I’m fine at everything else, but I need to get a B in this.”

“I can help you if you want?” Joonmyun asks.

“Called it,” Jongdae says, and then he hisses. “Ow!”

Joonmyun almost smiles at the thought someone probably kicked him, but mostly just ignores him.

“Oh, I’m sure you’re busy,” Jongin says hastily. “I couldn’t ask you to do that for me.”

Joonmyun rolls his eyes, and opens his mouth to argue, but Chanyeol gets there first.

“Don’t worry, Joonmyun-hyung enjoys nothing more than to tutor people.”

“You can talk,” Baekhyun says. “He tutored you in Maths for an entire year.”

“Yes,” Chanyeol agrees. “And it helped a lot, and look where we are now.” He indicates the table. “Without tutoring me, none of us would have met.”

“Good point,” Baekhyun agrees. “I’d still be human.”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes, but Joonmyun thinks that there’s some merit to what they’re saying. If he hadn’t been asked to tutor Chanyeol, he’d never have met Kyungsoo or Jongdae, or the rest of the group. Maybe he would still have been attacked by the wolf, but he wouldn’t have had this support group to lean on in the aftermath. He wouldn’t have known anything about Chanyeol when he woke up in his house. It would have all been far too strange for words.

Not that it isn’t now, of course.

“Of course I’ll tutor you,” Joonmyun says to Jongin.

“I can’t pay you,” Jongin says.

“You think Chanyeol paid?” Jongdae asks, and snorts.

“Is there anything you’re good at?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Um,” Jongin says. “I don’t know. I kind of like dancing?” He says it in such a tone that Joonmyun thinks that he means it’s his only hobby and his only joy in life, but he doesn’t want to seem like it is. This makes Joonmyun feel quite sad. At least he has his painting and his music.

“Teach Hyung how to dance,” Kyungsoo says, “until you’ve done your exams.”

“Okay,” Jongin says. “I can do that.”

It’s settled. Joonmyun will tutor Jongin after school three times a week, and once they’re finished, Jongin will run through some dance routines with him. It’s a perfectly equal relationship. Joonmyun smiles warmly at Jongin and gives him a box of leftovers to take home with him, just because he’s so happy.

~*~*~

Their first session is a few days later. They sit in the library together, in a corner far away from the eyes of the other pupils, as Jongin is still shy.

They work through his homework together first, focusing on what he’s weakest at. Once they’re finished and Joonmyun has a better idea about what Jongin needs help on, he starts on the easiest thing to explain, and they take a full hour to go through it until Jongin understands where he was going wrong.

“Okay,” Joonmyun says, looking at his watch. “I think that’s enough for today.”

Jongin drops his pen and leans back in his chair, and he stretches. “Thank you,” he says. “You’ve helped me a lot today.”

“It’s no problem,” Joonmyun says. “I’m glad I’m able to help you.”

They pack up their belongings and then Jongin leads them out of the library and down the hallways, getting further and further away from the main body of the school.

Finally, they reach a set of darkened corridors. “Nobody comes to these music rooms,” he says. “We won’t be disturbed.”

The rooms are empty of any furniture, except for a CD player that is plugged in opposite a wall of mirrors. Jongin turns the CD player on, adjusting the volume.

“We’ll do something easy,” he begins, and then he moves slowly, carefully, controlled. It’s a movement that Joonmyun is positive he’ll never be able to make, regardless of how easy Jongin thinks it is, but he tries anyway.

During the next thirty or so minutes, Jongin shows Joonmyun how to do easy and simple moves that look good, and suddenly Joonmyun wishes there would be an occasion where he could show them off. Some kind of dance or club with his friends. It would be completely worth it.

When they finish, Joonmyun flops onto the ground, sweating profusely, but Jongin seems perfectly fine. “How are you not a puddle on the floor, like I am?” Joonmyun asks stupidly. He knows the answer; Jongin does this a lot.

“Used to it,” Jongin confirms. “But also being a werewolf helps. I have a lot more stamina because of needing to move for hours on end. It passes over from the wolf to me.”

Joonmyun nods, and drops his head back to the ground. “I don’t want to move,” he says.

Jongin laughs, for the first time since Joonmyun met him, and it’s not what he had expected Jongin’s laughter to sound like. Although he had expected Jongin’s voice to be low, it’s high-pitched and halfway to a giggle. Jongin laughs with his whole body, almost overbalancing as he bends himself in half to laugh at his knees.

“It’s not that funny,” Joonmyun says, but there’s only mild annoyance in his tone.

“It is though!” Jongin says, and he chuckles, before collecting himself. “We’d better go then, Hyung.” He turns the player off mid-song, the room falling silent except for Joonmyun’s heaving breath.

He reaches out to grab Joonmyun’s hand and pulls him up easily, in one smooth movement, like Joonmyun weighs no more than a three year old. Joonmyun has to stop to press one hand against his forehead as the dizziness subsides, and once it’s gone, he links his fingers with Jongin’s.

Jongin looks at their entwined hands for a moment with wide eyes.

“We’re friends now,” Joonmyun says cheerfully in explanation, and he pulls them out of the room with a happy lift in his step.

~*~*~

School resumes like normal.

Joonmyun has lunch with the same gang, with the addition of Jongin and, on occasion, even Yixing, which is a strange but welcome surprise. They joke during lunch together like normal boys. Normal boys with strange secrets.

A few days later, Joonmyun, Chanyeol and Yixing have their first performance session at the music club.

Joonmyun has prepared Super Junior’s _It’s You_ , because it’s pretty but it’s also not too slow and his voice doesn’t tremble too much when he belts out the chorus.

He’s followed by a boy he doesn’t know who sings 2PM’s _10 Out Of 10_ in a somewhat shaky voice; and that boy is followed by a haunting acoustic guitar duet of Snow Patrol’s _Chasing Cars_ sung by Yixing and Chanyeol, which the whole club agrees is one of the most beautiful things they’ve ever heard. Nothing following them is quite as good.

The next week’s task is a dance, and Joonmyun’s face pales as Chanyeol leers at him and teases him to participate. He _had_ asked for an occasion to show off, but he doesn’t think he’s ready yet—maybe he’ll just sit this one out.

~*~*~

Joonmyun and Jongin continue to revise and practise as the week goes by, and then the next. Joonmyun begins to look forward to the snippets of conversation they have during the walk from the library to the practice room.

He learns little things about Jongin, like how his favourite colour is sky blue and how he wishes he had dogs. Joonmyun finds himself absently inviting him over to play with Byeol. He also likes _Pirates of the Caribbean_ , but he hasn’t seen it in years.

“I don’t watch much television anymore,” he says.

Joonmyun doesn’t ask him why he doesn’t. “Where do you live?” he asks instead, and Jongin waves his hand indistinctly in the direction of the woods.

“Near the woods,” he says. “Small place. My parents pay for it.”

Joonmyun nods, and wonders if he’ll ever get to see this place. Jongin’s getting skinnier each day and he never seems to bring lunch with him. Joonmyun just doesn’t understand.

“Okay,” Jongin says, before Joonmyun can ponder too long. “Let’s see how far you’ve got.”

~*~*~

Chanyeol corners Joonmyun one day after school.

“I think I’ve worked out why Jongin didn’t know he was—you know,” he says. “Come home with me.”

He leads Joonmyun home by the hand. Yixing isn’t there when they get back, which is a change. Yixing always seems to already be there these days.

“I wanted to keep this between us,” Chanyeol says, presumably noticing Joonmyun’s surprise. “Nobody else needs to know yet.”

He brings up a page on his laptop, a news article dated September 1994.

“It took me ages to find this,” Chanyeol tells him, and he manoeuvres Joonmyun into a chair so he can read the screen better.

It’s a story about two wolves who were killed when scavenging food from a village. Apparently a baby was found nearby and taken to the hospital, but nobody claimed the baby, and they were put up for adoption later.

“According to the hunter newspaper,” Chanyeol says when he’s sure that Joonmyun has finished reading, “they were werewolves and the baby was their child. The baby was adopted before the hunters could get to it.”

“He was just a baby,” Joonmyun says. “One year old. What were they going to do to him?”

“Lycanthropy is inherited,” Chanyeol says. “Once a werewolf, always a werewolf. That’s the hunter code. The baby was always going to be dangerous.”

Joonmyun feels chills run down his spine.

~*~*~

Joonmyun agrees not to mention it to Jongin until they know for sure. They don’t know if he is the baby in question, although Chanyeol seems to think it’s unlikely that he _isn’t_.

Chanyeol goes back to researching Baekhyun and Jongin’s histories and Joonmyun goes back to performing and practising and homework and video games at the weekend and life passes by peacefully like that.

The closer it gets to the full moon, the more playful Jongin gets. Joonmyun wonders if it’s a side effect of the wolf just being a puppy, or if he just gains excess energy near to the full moon.

Joonmyun does his best to help out; their dance sessions get longer, even though Joonmyun ends up absolutely exhausted, but Jongin also gets tired the longer they dance for. That’s a bonus, because otherwise he says he can’t sleep. He needs to be tired out, like a puppy, before he’s able to rest.

The Friday before the Sunday full moon, Jongin is particularly boisterous, and Joonmyun imagines that if he had a tail, he’d be wagging it like Byeol does when he gets excited.

When their dance session is over, Jongin is still exuding energy. Joonmyun pats the ground next to him. “Sit down,” he says.

Jongin goes to crouch next to him, but he doesn’t sit. Instead, he bowls Joonmyun over.

It’s been a long, long time since Joonmyun play-fought with anyone. He’s too old, too mature, too straight-laced. But something strikes a chord within him and suddenly he’s pushing Jongin over, tumbling with him.

They scrap like small children, or like puppies, rolling each other over and trying to push their weight down to hold the other down. Joonmyun gets the upper hand a few times, but due to being tired, he’s easily beaten.

Jongin eventually flops down onto Joonmyun’s body, dropping his head into the gap between Joonmyun’s neck and shoulder. “Tired now,” he says. “Going to sleep.”

Joonmyun pushes at him weakly. “You’re heavy,” he complains. “Roll over.”

Jongin growls deep in his throat. His teeth scrape over Joonmyun’s shoulder as a warning. “Stay,” Jongin says, his voice different from usual. It’s warmer, syrupy. “Stay with me, my sweet. Stay with your Alpha.”

_Alpha?_

Joonmyun gulps, and tries to carefully pull himself out of Jongin’s reach, because suddenly he’s scared. But by moving he’d disobeyed Jongin’s orders. All he can feel is pain. He distantly feels himself scream in a rather unmanly fashion.

“My sweet,” he hears distantly, through the rush of blood in his ears. “That will teach you to step out of line again.”

Jongin, who is squishing him down, jerks, and then suddenly he’s on his feet and Joonmyun can breathe again. Jongin’s mouth is smeared with red and his eyes are partway between his usual dark and gold.

“I—” Jongin begins, and his eyes return to their normal colour, although they are frozen wide in horror. He doesn’t continue, just turns and runs from the room.

Joonmyun slides across the floor slowly to the mirror and moves his shirt aside so he can see the damage.

He can’t really see due to the blood staining his shirt and drying across his shoulder, so he forces himself to his feet and staggers out to the nearest bathroom. His shoulder burns as he tries to clean it with a wet tissue and he smears his tears with his sleeve, but he keeps it up.

There’s a ring of teeth marks in his shoulder, but they’re not like any human teeth he’s ever seen. He thinks they might be animal teeth, but he can’t imagine how Jongin the human was able to have such teeth. He can’t believe that Jongin’s jaw was so strong he was able to rip through skin, flesh and tissue, though thankfully not bone as well. He’s going to have a hard enough time using his shoulder in the near future.

Walking home seems impossible, so Joonmyun fishes out his phone with his good hand. “Chanyeol,” he says, when Chanyeol picks up, and he sniffs. He refuses to cry. “Chanyeol, something happened.”

It takes Chanyeol and Yixing less than ten minutes to get to the school. “What—?” Chanyeol begins, and then he stops in his tracks, eyes transfixed on Joonmyun’s shoulder.

“Jongin bit me,” Joonmyun says. When he sees Chanyeol’s expression turn from worried to murderous, he tries, “It’s okay—”

“It’s not okay,” Yixing says, and he presses his hand to Chanyeol’s back carefully, holding the taller boy up. “We don’t know what that means.”

The blood comes rushing back around Joonmyun’s ears and he feels faint. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

“Well it’s…it’s possible that he turned you into a werewolf,” Yixing says.

Joonmyun passes out.

~*~*~

“You’re going to have to stop doing that,” Chanyeol jokes half-heartedly once Joonmyun’s woken up. “You’re quite heavy.”

Joonmyun pouts at him. He doesn’t think he’s _that_ heavy.

They’re at Chanyeol’s house, sitting in front of Chanyeol’s laptop and waiting for a Skype call from their oldest members. Chanyeol says that their families have been around werewolves a lot longer, and they might know what the bite did.

 _“Hopefully nothing,”_ like Joonmyun had said before, is apparently not likely. It _had_ to have done something.

It comes ten minutes later.

“Hyung,” Chanyeol says, focusing on Minseok. “Hyung, the wolf bit Joonmyun-hyung.”

“Jongin bit me,” Joonmyun corrects. Chanyeol waves him off.

They make Joonmyun show him the bite mark, and he struggles to pull the clean t-shirt that Chanyeol had given him out of the way so that they can see it. Only after washing the skin in warm water and antibacterial ointment, did they realise just how bad the bite is. It’s deep, each tooth leaving a puncture wound, and Chanyeol’s father had told them it would probably scar. It’s already bruising, and Joonmyun finds it difficult to move his arm, though Yixing had done his best to alleviate the pain by wrapping unicorn hairs around the bite. Unicorns are healers by nature.

The three eldest gasp in horror at the state of Joonmyun’s shoulder.

“That’s bad,” Lu Han says.

“But do you know what biting a human does?” Chanyeol asks. “Is he—?”

“I’ve never heard of a werewolf in human form leaving a bit like that,” Kevin says. “There are different kinds of bite in wolf form, but never human.”

“Do you remember how it happened?” Lu Han asks.

Joonmyun explains what happened to them as he wraps the hairs back around his arm and covers it up again.

“That’s interesting,” Lu Han and Minseok chorus.

“What was? Do you know what it means?”

Minseok shakes his head. “It’s curious, but we’ll do some research. In the meantime, I think you’d best treat Joonmyun like he will turn. I’m sorry, Joonmyun. He’ll have to keep you indoors and lock you up. It won’t be very nice.”

Joonmyun turns to Chanyeol with wide eyes. “Really?”

Chanyeol nods. “I’ll do my best to keep you comfortable,” he assures Joonmyun. “You’re my best friend, and anything that happens isn’t your fault.” He turns back to the other three. “We’ll do it,” he says. “And I’ll report back to you once this full moon weekend is over.”

Once the Skype call has ended, Joonmyun curls up into a scared ball, anticipating whatever will happen to him over the weekend. He just prays that whatever it is isn’t as life-changing as becoming a monster.

~*~*~

Joonmyun gets permission from his parents to stay at Chanyeol’s for the whole weekend, and then everything starts.

Joonmyun doesn’t feel any less human than he usually does, but he’s not sure how one feels if they’re about to become a wolf.

They spend most of the day doing their homework and playing video games together, trying to put off the inevitable discussion about that night.

When he comes over, Yixing promises to watch over the Jongin-wolf, along with Baekhyun. Sehun and Zitao are both studying for their exams and can’t make it, so they are all hoping that two will be enough.

Chanyeol refuses to leave Joonmyun’s side, which Joonmyun is grateful for. He’s too scared.

When it hits mid-afternoon, Chanyeol’s family lead Joonmyun down to the cellar, where they have a stone room with a large door.

“We built this in case we ever caught a werewolf,” Chanyeol’s father says. “It’s for emergencies. I’m glad we have it.”

The inside of the room is soft, everything a kind of spongey material.

“It’s impervious to wolf claws,” Chanyeol’s mother explains, noticing him looking at it. “But it’s to protect the wolf from hurting itself.”

Joonmyun nods and watches as they exit the room, leaving him in it. Chanyeol hovers in the doorway once his parents have gone.

“We’re not going to tie you up,” Chanyeol says. “And I’ll be right outside. I’ll be here if you need me. If you—if nothing happens. Knock three times if you’re fine, five times if you need my help. If you lift that floorboard, there’s a book and a torch in there, for when you’re still—” He breaks off, his voice cracking.

Joonmyun nods again, and heads over to the floorboard indicated. He takes out the items and Chanyeol leaves, shutting the door behind him, dropping Joonmyun into darkness. Joonmyun hears the click of a lock, and then three clunks as bolts slide into place.

Joonmyun clicks on the torch and begins to read. It’s a fantasy novel, one he’s read before, but it’s good and it will pass the time.

He doesn’t notice it at first, too engrossed in the story, but eventually he notices how hot he’s becoming.

He’s sticky as well, his clothes sticking to his skin, and for some strange reason he’s getting hard, his jeans constricting. He puts his book down and looks down at his crotch.

He checks his watch first. It’s late, well after sunset. If he was going to turn into a werewolf, he’d have done it now. So clearly the bite didn’t turn him.

Joonmyun knows that he could knock to be let out. His stomach rumbles with hunger, and he wouldn’t mind getting something to eat.

His cock swells even more.

Even though he’s extremely embarrassed, Joonmyun realises that he can’t go out without getting rid of the problem first. He just hopes that there are no cameras in here, and that Chanyeol won’t be able to hear him.

He works his jeans and underwear off over his ankles, freeing his erection and hot legs, and then goes to sit in the corner where he can see the door.

He has nothing to use as lotion, so he spits into his good hand before wrapping it around himself and trying to work out this hard-on. He doesn’t imagine anything in particular, just does his best to stroke where it feels good, trying to come as quickly as possible.

He comes rubbing his thumb across the head of his cock and he catches it in his hand, although he doesn’t know where to wipe it. He blushes with embarrassment when he comes down from his high, and then he realises that he’s still hard.

This has never happened to Joonmyun before. He comes, he grows flaccid. That’s what happens to _all_ boys. But it’s erect, plain as day, sticking out before him.

And he’s hotter still, body burning up. He tugs his t-shirt off, leaving him naked in the room, and wipes his hand in it, before beginning to jack off again.

His body doesn’t complain of oversensitivity, which worries him. Usually if he so much as holds his cock after he’s come, it hurts for at least a few moments. But he feels fine, just hard and hot.

He strokes again until he comes a second time, body shaking and sweating all over. He feels like he has a fever and his cock throbs, still hard as a rock.

Frustrated tears leak from Joonmyun’s eyes as he realises that he’s going to have to ask for help, because his erection refuses to leave.

Being seen in this state is embarrassing, and Joonmyun knows he must be a smelly, sweaty mess, but he can’t help himself. He trembles as he stands, cock solid before him, and he makes his way slowly over to the door.

He bites his lip and knocks five times.

“What is it?” Chanyeol’s voice asks. “Are you okay?”

“I need your help,” Joonmyun says, trying to stop his voice from cracking. “I’m so sorry.”

Chanyeol opens the door, and then stops. “Look mate, I know we’re friends and all, but I don’t like you like this,” Chanyeol says, frowning. Joonmyun can see him try not to let his line of sight drop down.

“It’s not—” Joonmyun wants to press the heels of his hands to his eyes, but he can’t. He presses his good hand to his stomach instead. “I’ve come twice,” he says.

“That’s nice,” Chanyeol says, in a voice that says it’s not at all, and he frowns, wrinkling his nose.

Joonmyun lets out a laugh that’s more a sob than anything else. “It’s not—it’s not going down. Chanyeol, _please_. I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t necessary.” He raises the back of his good hand, covered in drying come, and smudges away his tears, leaving a sticky mess behind.

Chanyeol watches the movement and he gulps. “What do you need me to do?” he asks, sounding resigned.

“Just—just help, _please_ ,” Joonmyun begs.

Chanyeol steps into the room and shuts the door behind himself, leaving them in darkness except for the light of the torch on the floor. He walks over to Joonmyun and places a hand on his waist. There’s a little bit of relief from the heat, but not much.

“You’re burning up,” Chanyeol says in surprise, and he steers Joonmyun over to a wall, before pressing his hand to Joonmyun’s forehead.

“I think they’re connected,” Joonmyun says. “Maybe if the heat breaks, this will stop—you know.” He doesn’t want to say it aloud.

“Alright then,” Chanyeol says, and then a second later there’s a hand on Joonmyun’s dick. He doesn’t ask how Joonmyun likes to get off, just strokes briskly. He removes it for a moment to spit into his own hand like Joonmyun did, before wrapping it back around, and it causes momentary relief, cooling Joonmyun down a little.

Joonmyun clings onto Chanyeol’s shoulders, doing his best to stay upright, as the heat takes over his whole body and threatens to make him collapse.

“You’re so lucky I’m such a nice friend and I can’t bear to see you cry,” Chanyeol says. “If you were Baekhyun or Jongdae? You could fuck yourself for all I care. I’m not touching either of their dicks, no matter how close they get to blue balls.”

Joonmyun makes little muffled noises of thanks as his hips buck into Chanyeol’s hand, the pleasure building up slower unlike the pace of Chanyeol’s hand.

“Can’t you come already?” Chanyeol asks, and he strokes even faster. Joonmyun loosens one hand from around Chanyeol and slides it down his sweltering body until he reaches his balls, and he rubs his thumb over one, coaxing it, and then it’s upon him, and he comes fast, strings landing over Chanyeol’s fingers and shirt.

Joonmyun can feel his cock relax, and he slides down the wall when Chanyeol lets go of him. “Thank you,” he breathes.

“Right,” Chanyeol says. “Glad I could help you with your dick problem. Let’s never speak of this ever again. Promise?”

Joonmyun nods his head absently, although he’s mostly wondering why he even got hard in the first place.

“If you put some clothes on and wash, you can come up for dinner, and then you’d better air-freshen this place out. It’s not a sex chamber,” Chanyeol says airily, and then he turns and leaves, presumably to change his own clothes.

Joonmyun dresses like he’d been told, and hopes that that was a one-time thing, because he’d hate to go through it all again.

~*~*~

It’s not a one-time thing.

The night of the full moon he gets hot and hard again, though this time he’s already in bed at home. Hand over his mouth so his parents don’t hear, he gets himself off—once, twice.

His body is still flush and hard and he feels uncomfortable, like there is something he is missing, something he needs to help fix him. His thighs clench as his body rocks, searching for something to fill a gaping hole inside him.

It takes another two times before he softens, by which point all he wants to do is curl up and sleep for a week.

He drifts off with fingers crossed that that would be the last of it.

~*~*~

It’s not even a _two_ -time thing, for partway through one of his classes Monday morning it happens again.

As a teenage boy, Joonmyun is no stranger to random erections during school, and usually he just slides further under the table and waits for it to go away. But it doesn’t go away, because this isn’t a normal erection. His teacher even asks if he has a fever because he’s sweating so much.

He finds himself in a toilet cubicle at lunchtime, stuffing his tie into his mouth so he won’t make a noise as he hastily jacks off.

He sends a text to Chanyeol once he’s softened— _It keeps happening. Please find out what’s wrong with me._ —and gets an extremely disgruntled agreement. Chanyeol hadn’t wanted to talk about it, after all.

When Joonmyun reaches the lunch table, missing Jongin for once, Chanyeol studiously ignores him. After a while, Joonmyun stops talking to him and instead talks to the rest, frowning to himself.

“Ooh, are Umma and Appa fighting?” Jongdae teases. At his words, Chanyeol freezes, makes a grimace, and turns so his back faces them.

Joonmyun shrugs at Kyungsoo’s confused and asking expression. He knows that Chanyeol is angry, but he doesn’t really understand why he’s angry with _him_.

“Where’s Jongin?” Joonmyun asks, and Chanyeol explodes.

He stands up, looming over Joonmyun. “Why do you care?” he asks, too loud. People at the nearby tables turn to look over at them and Joonmyun cowers in his seat.

“Shh!” Joonmyun hisses, somewhat frightened that someone will overhear. “You’re too loud.”

“Shut up, Joonmyun,” Chanyeol snaps, but thankfully he’s quieter this time. “Nothing to see here,” he tells the other tables, and the other students turn away again. Chanyeol clearly takes this as a sign to continue, for he says, “I would have thought you’d have known better after what he did to you, but I guess you’re still just a bleeding heart.” He turns and storms out of the room.

Joonmyun stands to follow him, eyes wet, but Baekhyun tugs him back down. “Don’t,” he says. “Let Yixing-hyung.”

Not a minute later, Yixing leaves his separate group of friends and follows Chanyeol out.

Joonmyun bites his lip. He thinks he might start crying, and tries to force the urge away, because he doesn’t want to show weakness in a room of school students who will never let him forget it. “I don’t understand,” he says quietly, when the urge leaves him. He just feels numb. “Why is he so angry?”

“What did Jongin do to you?” Kyungsoo asks.

Joonmyun had forgotten that they don’t know. “He bit me,” he says. When they hiss, loudly, he hastily tacks on, “It was a mistake, and I’m fine.” Well, _fine_ is the wrong word to use. “I’m not a—he didn’t turn me. Don’t worry.”

“You know for definite?” Jongdae asks, worry clear over his face. They all look worried. Joonmyun thinks that the other tables probably think he’s told them the worst news in the world, and hopes nobody talks to him about it.

“Yes,” Joonmyun says. “I’m positive. The bite didn’t turn me.”

“What do bites do then?” Baekhyun asks. “They must do something.”

Joonmyun doesn’t want to bring up his suspicions about the bite making him horny at the full moon because he doesn’t want anyone else to know about it—especially not if they’ll react the way Chanyeol did. “I don’t know,” he says. “We’ll find out, I suppose.”

“Chanyeol wouldn’t be that rude if it was over nothing,” Kyungsoo says. “Defensive, sure, but rude? There must be something he knows that he’s not telling you.”

This sends a shiver down Joonmyun’s spine—the idea that Chanyeol knows something about his predicament but is refusing to tell him for some twisted reason.

“I’m sure Yixing-hyung will fix him for you,” Baekhyun says. “Though I hope that he fixes him with a kiss.”

Joonmyun blinks at him.

“I forgot you weren’t around since the beginning,” Baekhyun says airily. Kyungsoo scoffs, loudly, though when Baekhyun turns to look at him, he pretends to be examining his lunch. “They have a thing.”

“A…thing?” Joonmyun asks.

“It’s a will-they-won’t-they thing,” Jongdae agrees.

Joonmyun blinks again.

“Those two have been betting on when they’re going to hook up for about a year now,” Kyungsoo explains. “Yixing-hyung is somewhat obvious but Chanyeol is blind.”

“Wait,” Joonmyun says, “they _like_ each other?”

“Yes,” the three of them chorus.

“Oh,” Joonmyun says, somewhat dumbly. That explains why Chanyeol didn’t really want to touch his dick.

“Anyway,” Kyungsoo says, “before we forget why Chanyeol got mad in the first place, Jongin’s studying. For his exams. That you were tutoring him for.”

“Oh!” Joonmyun says, and smacks himself on the forehead. “I totally forgot, what with everything that happened.”

His friends stare at him. It takes him a moment to realise they’re waiting for an explanation—one he’s not willing to give.

“Er,” he says. “They thought I was going to turn. It was stressful.” It’s not a lie, at least.

They nod. “And you didn’t,” Kyungsoo says.

“I didn’t,” Joonmyun agrees shortly.

He wonders what’s going to happen in the future. He wonders why he gets hot and horny. He wonders when Chanyeol will forgive him.

He just doesn’t understand.

~*~*~

The next day there is no uncomfortable horniness, and Joonmyun realises that he was right; it only affects him during the full moon. For some reason, this doesn’t make him feel any better.

Nor does the fact that not only does Jongin not show up to lunch all week, unsurprisingly, neither does Chanyeol. It is the longest that Joonmyun hasn’t spoken to Chanyeol since they first met.

But Joonmyun doesn’t want to push things. He doesn’t want to push Chanyeol before he’s ready, so when Kyungsoo suggests he try to accost Chanyeol after one of the classes they share, Joonmyun shakes his head. “I’ll give him as much time as he needs,” he says. “That’s the least I can do.”

And it works out in his favour when he opens his front door on Saturday to Chanyeol standing there looking sheepish.

“Sorry,” Chanyeol says. “It wasn’t your fault. I shouldn’t have shouted at you. Yixing-hyung told me that I upset you, and I didn’t mean to.”

Joonmyun doesn’t reply, just tugs him down for a hug, because although he wanted to be strong and allow Chanyeol his space, he did really miss him.

Once they’re settled in Joonmyun’s bedroom, Chanyeol says, “I’ve done some research, and I think I’ve worked out what was wrong with you. But you’re not going to like it. _I_ don’t like it.”

“What is it?” Joonmyun asks, sitting forwards with his hands on his knees. This is it.

“He—” Chanyeol swallows. “I think he—” He shakes his head. “It’s so hard to stomach.”

“What?” Joonmyun asks eagerly.

“I think he made you his mate,” Chanyeol rushes out.

Joonmyun does what he does every time he learns something strange and horrible and new—he passes out.

But not for long. He wakes up moments later to Chanyeol fanning his face. “You’ve _got_ to stop doing that,” Chanyeol repeats. “I can’t catch you every time you faint.”

“Sorry,” Joonmyun says. “But— _mate_? How am I supposed to cope with that?”

 _Mate_. It’s a strong word that implies a life with the other person, like the human concept of soulmates. Joonmyun isn’t even eighteen yet. He hasn’t yet worked out what appeals to him in a partner. He doesn’t even know what sexuality he is.

But all kinds of choice have been removed from him. He’s going to be stuck with Jongin for the rest of his life.

Chanyeol shrugs. “All I know is your body—it’s reacting.”

“Can’t I just…ignore it?” Joonmyun asks quietly. He’s still holding out that there’s a chance that if he ignores it his body will forget.

“That will happen to you every single full moon if you don’t try to do something about it,” Chanyeol says. “You’ll get hot and sweaty and _hard_ and it’ll happen at any time of the day all three full moon days. Do you want that?”

Joonmyun shakes his head mutely, because that would be so much worse. “How do I make it stop?” he asks, but he already has a vague idea, remembering how his body had clenched, how he’d felt wrong somehow.

It takes Chanyeol a few moments to get the words out, and that’s confirmation enough. “He has to mate with you, during the day of the full moon,” Chanyeol manages at last. “The wolf is dominant,” he adds.

Joonmyun curls up into himself, head against his knees. What Chanyeol is saying is that Jongin needs to fuck him for this to stop.

Joonmyun may be a teenage boy but aside from the few short relationships he’s had (with girls) he doesn’t have a lot of experience with love, and he’s never had sex before. The idea of his first sexual experience being getting fucked in the ass by a werewolf somewhat frightens him.

“I didn’t choose this,” Joonmyun says, into his knees. “This isn’t fair.”

“Life isn’t fair,” Chanyeol says. “I told you we shouldn’t have been friends with him.”

“I’m a bleeding heart, I guess,” Joonmyun grumbles. He doesn’t intend to throw Chanyeol’s own words back in his face, but he feels Chanyeol curl up next to him.

“I said I was sorry,” Chanyeol says. “I didn’t mean what I said, I was just lashing out. You’re not a bleeding heart.”

“I am, though,” Joonmyun says, as Chanyeol’s words sink in. “You were right. I was too nice, and Jongin—he misunderstood, and he took advantage of me. I shouldn’t have been so nice.”

“No, Joonmyun,” Chanyeol says, forgoing honorifics once again. “It’s not your fault. The wolf took over and it bit you. And I hate to say it, but Jongin probably didn’t intend to bite you. Maybe. Who knows what’s going on inside his head. But the most important thing is you didn’t ask him to bite you and therefore it’s not your fault.”

Joonmyun sniffs, but he nods his head. “This is scary,” he says. He’s comfortable enough around Chanyeol that it isn’t awkward to admit it. “I don’t know if I’m ready for this. I’m too young.”

“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol says. “I wish there was a way to make it all go away, or to mean that you never had to see him again after the first time, but it might happen every full moon. Though it’ll definitely settle down after the first time you, y’know.”

Joonmyun and Jongin might have to have sex together for the rest of their lives. The idea of this is rather quite terrifying at first. Joonmyun wonders if he’ll enjoy sex. He’s sure he will; it’s sex, what’s not to like? But will he enjoy it with Jongin, a werewolf two years younger who has never had a real friend, let alone a relationship? Will he learn to enjoy it? He’ll have to.

Joonmyun lifts his head from his knees and tries to still his nerves. He needs to learn more about what will happen. “Are there…are there other things that will happen if we’re away from each other?”

“I’m not sure,” Chanyeol says, and he shrugs. “I couldn’t find much because human mates aren’t that willing to talk. Usually they wanted to be mated together because of love, and mating is the only way to truly be with a werewolf. There was one who talked to some wood-protector therianthropes after her mate died. She only really talked about the heat, and getting pregnant, and missing him. I know you’re not a girl so the babies bit doesn’t count, but the rest seems to be the same.”

Joonmyun drops his head back against the wall and stares at the ceiling. “Great,” he says. “And now I have to tell him.”

“Good luck with that,” Chanyeol says, sincerely. “And I won’t run away next time. If you need me, I’ll stick around.” He pauses. “As long as my boyfriend’s okay with it,” he says thoughtfully.

It takes a moment for it to filter through to Joonmyun, but when it does it shoves away his fears about this long relationship. “You got together?” he asks, with a smile. “I’m glad for you, you deserve this.”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says, and he grins. “I’ve liked Yixing-hyung for years. I never knew that he liked me too.”

They fall into conversation about how the two of them got together, but always, at the back of Joonmyun’s mind, is the idea that he is basically now in a relationship that’ll last the rest of his life, and he’s still not sure what to make of it.

~*~*~

During Monday lunchtime nobody mentions that Chanyeol and Joonmyun have made up like they never fought in the first place. Chanyeol just sits there and chats like he’d never left.

Partway through lunch Jongin shows up, somewhat shyly, hovering nervously like they’ll reject him.

The rest of their group turn to Joonmyun to see his reaction. He’s had a lot of time to think over the weekend about everything, and he hasn’t quite got used to anything. But he shrugs all the same.

Jongin sits down next to Kyungsoo, though, rather than by Joonmyun like usual. Joonmyun thinks that’s probably a good idea. He’s not sure if he’ll manage to keep quiet if he sits by him.

“I’m watching you,” Chanyeol says to Jongin, but it’s not as nasty as it once would have been. Jongin nods his understanding.

“How did you do on your exams?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Well enough, I think,” Jongin says. “Not going to be first place, but still good enough. Thanks to Hyung for helping me.”

Joonmyun nods, but doesn’t say anything.

They chat through lunch until the end. “Hyung,” Jongin says, catching up to Joonmyun. “Do you…do you still want me to help teach you to dance? Now my exams are over?”

This gives Joonmyun the opportunity he’s been looking for, to get Jongin alone and away from prying eyes and eager ears. “Sure,” he says.

“Let’s do it earlier, when we used to study,” Jongin says, and it’s settled.

~*~*~

Joonmyun waits until his dance lesson has finished before bringing it up. He thinks that this way he still got to spend time with Jongin if he explains it wrong by mistake and Jongin wants to leave.

“Um,” he begins. “You know when you bit me?”

Jongin freezes. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I never intended to hurt you.”

“Well,” Joonmyun says. “It—it kind of did something.”

He can see the fear in Jongin’s eyes as he says it, and he realises that to Jongin, turning someone else into a werewolf would be one of his worst nightmares. He is well aware of the fear of thinking he’s now a werewolf, but at the same time, he thinks it must be different, and still very hard, for Jongin.

“Not like that,” he says, hastily. “I’m still human, don’t worry. I’m not a wolf.”

The relief exuding from Jongin is palpable. “I’m glad,” Jongin says. “But what did I do to you?”

“We—um.” He’s practised in the mirror, but it doesn’t make it any easier. “You marked me as your mate.”

“Oh,” Jongin says quietly, and he looks at Joonmyun with wide eyes. “I—I didn’t know I could do that, I’m so, _so_ sorry.”

Joonmyun shrugs. “It just means that we…” He shakes his head. Now it comes down to it, he can’t say it. The words catch in his throat and no matter how he tries to cough them up, he’s too embarrassed to say them aloud.

“It’s okay, I can find out,” Jongin says. “Don’t say it if you’re uncomfortable.”

Joonmyun just nods his head mutely. It’s all too much for him.

“I’m so sorry that biting you caused you pain, Hyung,” Jongin says. “And I do understand if you don’t want me to sit with you at lunch.”

“We’ll have to get used to each other,” Joonmyun says softly. “That’s what happens with mates. They live together, breathe together. So it’s fine.”

“It’s not,” Jongin whispers, but he doesn’t protest.

~*~*~

Their conversation resumes several days later when Jongin has done his research.

“I understand why you didn’t want to talk about it,” Jongin says, shuffling his feet and doing his best not to look at Joonmyun. “Us…doing _it_.”

“Yeah,” Joonmyun says. “It’s just a bit…much to think about.”

“I have some bad news,” Jongin says, and this time he looks up. “Mating is linked directly to the wolf attributes.”

This alarms Joonmyun. “Does that mean I’ll have to—to do it with the _wolf_?” He shudders.

“No, no,” Jongin reassures him, a look of disgust on his face. “Nothing like that. But, um, it can’t be done until the wolf is sexually mature.”

Joonmyun furrows his brow in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“I…can’t have sex until the wolf becomes sexually mature,” Jongin says, his voice slightly stronger.

“And…when is that?” Joonmyun asks, because he still doesn’t understand the issue.

“January,” Jongin says. “When I turn sixteen, the wolf matures.”

It’s October.

“So…I have to deal with this heat until January?” Joonmyun asks, all but throwing his hands up in the air in despair.

“I can help you, if you want?” Jongin asks quietly. “We can’t, you know, but there are other things I could do to help you. It should calm the heat down if I help.”

Joonmyun nods quickly, because coping with it on his own had been almost unbearable. It would be embarrassing, but he’s going to have sex with this boy eventually, so he may as well allow him near his dick if it will help. He just hopes that it _does_ help.

Thankfully there’s another three weeks before he will have to test it, and he is particularly grateful for those opportunities to get used to the idea, before anything actually happens.

~*~*~

Despite being a five-week month, October passes by in a daze of music club, homework, group gaming sessions, several therianthrope group meetings, dance practice, and a lot of school. Joonmyun feels like he’s aged months in these three weeks.

As it draws nearer and nearer to the first full month day of November, Joonmyun tries to prepare himself for what is about to happen to him.

The proper full moon is a Monday, which means that the first day is Sunday. Joonmyun has to prepare weeks in advance to make sure he’s allowed out during the day. Jongin had said that the first session had best be at his place, in case it happens during the day and Joonmyun’s parents are around. Neither of them particularly wants to explain to parents what they would be doing.

Most of Joonmyun’s preparation comes in the form of getting his brain used to the idea that Jongin’s going to be helping him to get off. He’s got plenty of time to get used to that before any actual sex happens, and he appreciates that steady build-up, because he knows he will need it.

He doesn’t know what Jongin’s preparation is, but he hopes it involves learning how to make everything feel good for Joonmyun, because he’s the one who will be feeling it.

All-too quickly, Sunday comes, and Joonmyun makes his way to school, where Jongin had said he’ll meet him. They’re planning on doing their homework together until the heat hits. Jongin had brushed off any other suggestions.

“My home is really small,” Jongin says when he arrives, and he doesn’t look at Joonmyun when he says it, just watches as his feet scuff against the pavement. “Sorry about it.”

He leads Joonmyun down the road to a brick building that is separated from the rest. It’s two storeys high, and Jongin leads him through the gate and punches the entrance code into the access code box beside the door. It clicks, and Jongin heads in and up the stairs. Joonmyun follows hastily, so that he won’t get locked out.

Jongin lives on the top floor, at the far end of the corridor. He lets them in with a key he fishes out of his pocket.

Jongin’s flat is smaller than Joonmyun could ever have imagined, just two rooms. The main room is a kitchen, sitting room and bedroom all in one, with a sofa-bed doubling as a couch. There’s a small table in front of it that Joonmyun presumes is also his breakfast table, and a slim wardrobe for Jongin’s clothing.

Joonmyun remembers how Jongin had called it his _home_ , and he can actually see it. The place looks lived-in, if neat. There’s a shelf of books above a tiny television, no bigger than a tablet screen, that sits on the breakfast table, and a large and old laptop resting on the floor beneath it. The walls are white but there are a few posters stuck up, mostly of Michael Jackson, though there is one of Han Yeseul, one of someone called Musiq Soulchild, one of Shinhwa, and one of a large red flower. The one thing the place is lacking is any sign of family. There are no pictures of Jongin and his parents—or adoptive parents—anywhere.

Jongin kicks his shoes off in the doorway and crosses to sit on the sofa bed. He gets his homework out and places it on the table before him, and then pats the bed beside him. Joonmyun nervously follows suit, toeing off his shoes and perching next to Jongin.

He’s on Jongin’s _bed_. He can’t believe this is happening, even if all they’re doing is working on their homework together.

Maybe it—whatever _it_ is—can sense Jongin there next to him, a warm and unobtrusive presence, because it’s only an hour before the heat starts acting up. His entire body flushes, and there’s a steady pressure building up in his crotch.

“It’s happening,” he says, and he’s sure his face must be tomato red by now, a combination of the hot flush and the blush from the embarrassment he’s feeling at admitting it.

“Okay,” Jongin says slowly, and then he puts his pen down and turns to face Joonmyun. “How do you want to do this?”

“I was hoping you would know,” Joonmyun whines. “But can we do it before I burn up? I’m so hot.”

“I won’t stop you if you want to take your clothes off,” Jongin suggests, though his tone is full of mirth.

But Joonmyun doesn’t think this is that bad an idea, and he tugs his long-sleeved t-shirt off. The moment it’s off, even though his body welcomes the cool against his skin, he suddenly feels self-conscious. He isn’t as well-built as Chanyeol is, though he does work out sometimes, but he feels like maybe he should look better if they’re going to be in this arrangement. He didn’t feel like this when Chanyeol saw him naked.

Jongin doesn’t comment, however, he just waits patiently as Joonmyun sits with his hands on his belt, thinking. His trousers are going to have to come off eventually, he decides, and he stands and undoes them, kicking them down in a smooth motion. This leaves him in his underwear, plain and non-holey blue briefs. It pains him to admit that he had spent an uncomfortably long time that morning trying to find nice underwear, because he doesn’t want Jongin to think badly of him if he shows up in old ones with holes in them.

Jongin rustles around his bedding and finally extricates a large, unopened bottle of lubricant from under one of his pillows. Joonmyun gulps as Jongin rips the plastic off the bottle top, knowing that the whole bottle is to help him. He absently wonders where Jongin got the bottle from.

By this time, the head of Joonmyun’s cock is pressing solidly against the material covering him and he feels extremely uncomfortable. He makes the decision to stand and shove his briefs down, kicking them off into his jeans on the floor. Now free, his cock curves solidly up towards his stomach. Joonmyun takes a sneak peak over at Jongin’s crotch, to find that there’s not a vague sign of interest there. He feels put-out. Does this mean Jongin has little interest in him?

Jongin squeezes lubricant into his hands and rubs them together, before he reaches out and wraps his hand around Joonmyun’s dick. Joonmyun moans and bucks his hips up immediately at the sensations. Part of him feels cooler at Jongin’s touch, and he appreciates it.

“Sorry if this is bad,” Jongin mutters, “I can’t exactly practise on myself.”

And Joonmyun can tell that Jongin is inexperienced, but the experimental strokes and the way his thumb rubs over the head certainly show that he’s either researched or he’s willing to try to make it feel good. And it does.

“Faster,” Joonmyun moans, and Jongin obeys, his hand moving up and down at a quicker rate, until Joonmyun comes ropes of white over his hand, with a quiet cry. His cock doesn’t soften, although Joonmyun doesn’t really know why he’d thought, _hoped_ , it might this time.

Jongin looks at his cock as if perplexed.

“It does that,” Joonmyun says. “It’s usually three or four times before it stops.”

Jongin furrows his brow. “Okay,” he says, and he begins to stroke Joonmyun again. Even though Joonmyun is still shaking from his orgasm, it doesn’t feel uncomfortable that Jongin is stroking him so soon after he’s come. In fact, it’s almost welcome, like he can’t get enough of the buzz rippling through him. “Doesn’t it hurt?”

“No,” Joonmyun says. “It doesn’t even feel like normal. Usually it would feel too good to try again, but this just feels…pleasant. Keep going.” His breath comes out in little moans as he says it, and he reaches a free hand down to cup his balls.

“Oh,” Jongin says, and then his other hand is against Joonmyun’s balls as well, cupping them and rubbing the surface gently. If there’s one thing Joonmyun can say about Jongin, he’s a very quick study.

Jongin gets him off less like it’s a duty and more like he actually _wants_ to. Joonmyun relishes in the feeling of almost being _cared_ for. It’s Jongin’s fault he’s in this state after all, so he’s glad that Jongin is taking responsibility. Jongin _could_ have just done the least possible; got it over and done with in the shortest amount of time necessary, but he’s taking his time and allowing the feeling to build up. He barely removes his hand from around Joonmyun’s erection during the whole time.

It takes three times for Joonmyun’s cock to go soft again, and the third time he comes loudly, so loudly that later he will worry that the neighbours may have heard, when Jongin’s finger passes under Joonmyun’s balls and skates over his hole. His body clenches like he’s trying to suck the finger inside, and it’s the first time he’s ever _wanted_ something like that, to feel something inside him. He’s not sure if it’s the heat making him desire this, or if it was a latent need he hadn’t awoken until now—the desire to be fucked.

When it’s over and his body has cooled, Jongin shows him to the bathroom, which is a tiny wet-room with the shower squished in next to the toilet. It’s definitely not big enough for two people, although Joonmyun doesn’t understand why he’d even had that thought.

Joonmyun has a quick shower, not wanting to use all the water, and then dries off with the towel left outside. He dresses, feeling rather embarrassed now it’s over. He knows it was necessary, but it doesn’t help him feel any better about it.

It’s heading on into the afternoon, so Joonmyun packs his things and starts home, knowing that Jongin has to have enough time to get to the woods before the moon rises and he turns, and Joonmyun wouldn’t want to impede on that time in any way. He’s still afraid of the wolf.

Once he’s home, though, he wonders what tomorrow will be like, and if it will be better. He thinks that months of handjobs may not be enough for him—he’s sure he needs _more_ than that, but he doesn’t think he knows how to say so.

~*~*~

The heat strikes during lunch of the full moon day, and Joonmyun scrambles to his feet hastily. “Just forgot, I have to do something,” he says, and holds his bag over his crotch so that his friends won’t see how hard he is.

He makes his way to the toilets at the furthest point of the school, down by the dance rooms where he and Jongin usually practise. This way people are less likely to walk in on him.

He locks himself in one of the cubicles and once again shoves his tie in his mouth as a makeshift gag, before working his erection out through his fly and jerking himself off once.

He’s just come when Jongin arrives. “Hyung? You in here?” he whispers, and Joonmyun lets him in, locking the door behind him.

Jongin sinks to his knees once he’s in. “Never done this before either,” he breathes, and then his mouth is on Joonmyun’s dick.

Joonmyun has no frame of reference for blowjobs, so he can’t say if it’s particularly good, but he knows that Jongin is giving his all, and it _feels_ great. Jongin alternates sucking and licking, and his head bobs, and to be honest just the warmth around Joonmyun’s dick is more than good enough, and everything else is just a warm and delightful bonus. His orgasm builds upon him far too quickly, though there is just enough time to breathe an “I’m coming!”, allowing Jongin enough to get out of the way and catch it before it stains their clothing and makes it obvious what they were doing.

He’s still hard, so Jongin uses his spit as lube to get Joonmyun off a third and final time. “Is it always three times?” he asks, and Joonmyun shakes his head.

“It’s been four before,” he says, as he cleans himself off with toilet tissue. “Maybe, once we finally get to, you know, it might even just be once.” He pauses. “Thanks.”

“It’s no problem,” Jongin says. “And we can only hope. I can’t blow you repeatedly without my jaw hurting.” He sighs. “We should do research on other things you can do, other ways of—” He nods down.

“Okay,” Joonmyun says, and he buttons himself back into his trousers. “There’s still tomorrow.”

Jongin nods. “Let’s hope it’s at a better time tomorrow,” Jongin says. “Do you want to do our dance practise tomorrow, if it hits in the afternoon?”

Joonmyun nods hastily. “That would be the best solution. Those rooms don’t have cameras, right?”

“No,” Jongin agrees. “It’ll be okay back there. I’ll make sure it’s good for you.”

Joonmyun is learning that Jongin really means what he says, and that he’ll do his absolute best to make sure that Joonmyun enjoys it. 

Joonmyun is already looking forward to tomorrow.

~*~*~

Luckily for both of them, it hits during their dance practice.

“I’m so glad,” Joonmyun says, feeling strangely relieved at the sight of his erection. He’d been worried it wouldn’t come when he’s still at school, which is a weird fear to have. “Last month it hit late one night. There was no way you would have been able to help me, as you would have been in wolf form then.”

“That makes no sense,” Jongin says, with a frown. “Maybe we should get you some kind of tool to use, if I’m not around or already in wolf form?”

Joonmyun gapes at him. “Are you…are you suggesting we get me a _dildo_?” he hisses. He can’t believe they’re already talking about this. This is the _third day_ and they haven’t even started yet.

Jongin shrugs. “Whatever will help you,” he says. “If you need a dildo, we’ll buy you a dildo. Where do you think I got the lube from?”

Joonmyun drops backwards onto the ground and covers his face with embarrassment. “You seem to be taking this very well,” he grumbles.

“I’m taking it responsibly, I hope,” Jongin says. “I bit you, and it gave you this reaction. If I have to go out and buy you a dildo so you can get yourself off at home, then I will. I’m good at looking old enough.”

Joonmyun isn’t surprised in the least. He thinks that if Jongin were to dress up and hold himself without any fear or shyness in him, he’d look much older than his fifteen years. He could probably pass for nineteen or twenty; old enough to visit a sex shop without being noticed. “I could just hope it never happens again?” he suggests, but he knows better.

“I’ll go and buy you one as soon as I can,” Jongin promises, as if he hadn’t said anything.

“Now we’ve finished this embarrassing conversation,” Joonmyun says, moving his hands away from his face to indicate his swollen crotch, “can we fix this?”

Jongin laughs and helps Joonmyun tug his trousers and underwear down to his knees.

“I looked something up last night,” he says, and he gets a tiny bottle out from his bag. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”

“What is it?” Joonmyun asks, body clenching with nerves.

“Putting my fingers up there,” Jongin says, nodding down, and Joonmyun swallows. His body is already saying yes without him even being conscious of it, and he nods quickly.

“Please,” he begs.

Jongin gently spreads his legs so he can fit between them, and he coats his fingers in lube. “This will be interesting,” he says aloud.

Joonmyun suddenly starts panicking about this, because what if he’s all gross down there and Jongin never wants to help him again because of it?

But then there’s a finger against his hole, warm pressure but not pushing inside, and when Jongin asks if it’s okay, Joonmyun nods almost desperately.

The first finger hurts, even with the lubricant. Jongin goes slowly for him, pushing it in carefully until one finger is in fully, and pulling it out to do it again. After a few moments, it’s bearable, and Joonmyun accepts another finger, feeling the burn a bit more with two pressed inside. Jongin feels around for something and then a jolt of pleasure rushes through Joonmyun, and he moans. Jongin does it again, consistently running long fingers over that part of Joonmyun until he comes almost explosively over the both of them with a shout, his hips bucking and his back arching with the movements.

Jongin doesn’t pull his fingers out, but this time he leans down and takes Joonmyun in his mouth again. From the day before he seems to have gained an idea of what gets the biggest response from Joonmyun, and he focuses on doing that, sucking wetly, making sure that the room echoes with the sounds of Joonmyun’s moans. Joonmyun is so grateful that there’s nobody around to hear the noises he’s making, because they’re positively obscene.

Jongin pulls off him just as he starts to come a second time, Jongin’s fingers pressed gently against his prostate. This time, Joonmyun goes soft immediately, and he lets out a sigh of relief. He’s grateful that it didn’t take too long, even if he does enjoy it.

“Well, that’s the first full moon down,” Jongin jokes, and he pulls his fingers out carefully. Joonmyun feels empty without them, and his hole clenches around nothing. He misses the feeling of being somewhat full, but he already knows that what he really needs is a cock to sate these desperate urges. “Second for you, I suppose. Did it live up to your expectations?”

“Aren’t you cocky,” Joonmyun says, arm over his eyes again, but his tone is light. “It was good.”

“I’ll try to see how to make it better for you,” Jongin assures him. “There are two full moons in December. That will give us more time to see what’s good before the one at the end of January, when I’m mature. I hope it will be worth it for you.”

“I’m sure it will,” Joonmyun says, and he yawns. Jongin laughs.

“Maybe you should go home and get some rest? It’s been a hard three days for you, but it’ll be normal again until this time next month. You can relax now.”

Joonmyun nods, and carefully gets himself to his feet. He pulls his clothes back on properly and grabs his bag. “I’ll see you tomorrow then? Though I’ve got music club. You should join!”

“I’ll think about it,” Jongin promises him. “Bye, Hyung!”

Joonmyun heads home thinking that for only three days of his life, that was pretty good. Short of them actually having sex, he can’t think of ways that he could have made it better.

His porn searches later in the week beg to differ. There are a _lot_ of things they could have done, and he looks forward to experiencing some of them with Jongin in the future.

~*~*~

It’s nice waking up knowing that he won’t have to deal with the heat today.

He revels in the day, answering more questions in class than normal because he’s in such a good mood. During lunch his friends pick up on it.

“Someone’s unusually happy,” Jongdae says. “What’s the cause of this?”

“Probably got an A+ instead of an A on one of his essays,” Kyungsoo says with a laugh.

“That’s probably it,” Baekhyun agrees.

Joonmyun tries not to catch the eye of either Jongin or Chanyeol.

“So, maybe you should do a solo today,” Chanyeol says, trying to change the topic quickly.

The music club is that afternoon and they’re doing more performances; of what they’re good at. Joonmyun has already decided to sing SHINee’s Love Like Oxygen because he’s pretty good at imitating Jonghyun in it.

“Someone should dance along,” Chanyeol says.

“Are you offering?” Joonmyun and Kyungsoo ask in synchrony, and Chanyeol shakes his head rapidly.

“You know what I’m like when dancing. Someone with actual _skills_ should perform,” Chanyeol says, rolling his eyes.

They all turn to Jongin.

“Uh,” Jongin says, “maybe next time? I’m not sure I’m ready to perform in public.”

Joonmyun nods. “I understand,” he says. “When you’re ready.”

The others tease Joonmyun for his choice of words, but mostly they understand, and they don’t want to force Jongin to do anything he doesn’t want to do.

The rest of the day passes without a hitch. Joonmyun’s voice only cracks once mid-song, and he’s pleased with himself for managing it.

Once music club is over, the last two days of the week fly by. It’s a little awkward when Joonmyun and Jongin are alone together during their session, but Joonmyun tries not to focus on that and instead dances as well as he possibly can, making sure he can hit the steps.

“You’re getting really good at this,” Jongin praises, and Joonmyun thinks that the next step is learning to sing whilst dancing, much like a K-pop idol. At the moment he definitely can’t manage that.

But hearing praise from Jongin makes his heart swell, and he realises that he just wants to make the younger boy proud.

~*~*~

The next week is unexciting except for the school assembly midweek.

They file into the hall and take their seats in their classes. Joonmyun doesn’t have this lesson with Yixing, so he looks around to see where he and the rest are. Yixing is only a few rows in front, and the rest are scattered around the hall. Jongin is much closer to the front of the hall, and he appears to be ignoring his classmates entirely.

“Good morning everyone,” the Headmistress says, coming to stand at the front of the hall.

Joonmyun rises with the hall to bow to her, before settling back in his seat.

“We have several announcements to make,” she continues. “There are two school trips in the next two months. One is a zoo trip taking place next week, and the other is a camping trip in December for three days.” There is quiet applause around the room, though Joonmyun bets that the students want to cheer. The Headmistress waits for them to stop, before she says, “The camping trip is to help everyone warm up and give time to study properly for their exams. Remember to study hard. Your teachers will give you the permission slips to give you your parents when you’re back in class.”

The other announcement is the New Year Festival, which is held in late January every year. This year it is holding a talent show, and the teachers would like people from the various clubs to show their talents in recitations, music, dance and martial arts.

“For those students who do better with a pen or a paintbrush, there will also be various stalls put aside to showcase their work,” the Headmistress states.

Joonmyun feels excited. He’s proud of the art he makes. He enjoys the feeling of putting pencil to paper and showing the world something of himself, something uniquely _him_ , and he already knows that he wants to paint a wolf. It would be meaningful to him and it would look beautiful. His fingers itch with the chance to sketch out his design. He could even merge it with his incomplete art project; his painting of the woods. He could end up with a picture of a wolf prowling through the woods.

Once they’re out of the hall, his friends talk about how they should do some kind of musical performance, showcasing Chanyeol and Yixing’s abilities to play instruments and Jongin’s ability to dance and the others’ singing talents, but Joonmyun is still mostly thinking about his painting.

~*~*~

His parents sign the forms for him without questioning them too much. They do worry if he’ll be able to study away from home, but Joonmyun assures them that he is capable of studying anywhere.

“We never had study trips in my day,” Joonmyun’s father grumbles. “This is some new-fangled nonsense, if you ask me.” His wife swats him gently on the arm and chides him for being jealous.

Joonmyun absently wonders who is going to sign the forms for Jongin, due to the fact his parents aren’t around. In fact, he wonders how Jongin is even able to live on his own, but he knows Jongin’s parents pay for the place he lives in. He doesn’t have a job so they must pay his bills as well.

Surely someone must have signed his forms, though, because he seems just as excited as the rest of them. “I’ve never been to a zoo before!” he says at lunch the next day, body vibrating with excitement. “I wonder what it’s like?”

“It’s a place full of animals,” Jongdae says. “That’s all.”

This doesn’t seem to make him any less excited. Joonmyun wonders if it’s the prospect of seeing animals when in a form that doesn’t scare them, or if it’s just that he gets to go with them. For the first time he gets to do something with people who don’t hate him.

The rest of the group seem to operate on a principle that if Joonmyun likes him, even after he bit him, he must be alright. And he is.

~*~*~

It has been years since Joonmyun was last at the zoo, and the feeling of the place hasn’t changed, that idea of excitement and desire to run around like a small child and draw all the pretty animals.

The teachers keep them outside the entrance as they discuss the point of the trip. It’s cold and the students huddle together for warmth. Joonmyun finds himself pressed into Jongin’s side.

“During this trip, there will be talks on wildlife and conservation and rehabilitation. We would like you to go to one of these talks, and then to make a project on what you learnt. It doesn’t have to be an essay. You can give a presentation describing what you learnt, or describe it during images. You can even, if you so wish, write a song or a poem.”

“Once inside, you may walk around on your own. We will give you maps. Meet us back at the café for lunch at one o’clock.”

They swarm through in single file, and they get handed maps once through the payment desk. Joonmyun meets up with his friends once in the zoo.

“Where does everyone want to go?” Chanyeol asks.

“I bet Joonmyun wants to see everything cute,” Baekhyun says instantly, and he laughs, not unkindly.

It’s no secret that Joonmyun likes drawing fluffy animals, because they look good on paper and people tend to prefer drawings of cute things.

“We can go to the children’s petting zoo,” Jongdae says, with a shrug. “Let him get it out of his system.”

The seven of them make their way there, to the side of the zoo specifically for children. 

Once inside, Joonmyun purchases a bag of feed for the animals from one of the vending machines. They navigate the petting zoo, greeting the small rabbits first, and then the goat kids. There’s a particularly inquisitive kid that follows Joonmyun around the zoo, trying to chew on his clothes with its lips. Joonmyun gives it a big handful of feed and a stroke, but it doesn’t stop following him.

Joonmyun settles down after he’s greeted all the chicks, the pot-belly piglets and the llama crias. The kid comes over to sit beside him. He lifts a lop-eared rabbit into his lap and gets out his pad of paper and begins to draw the scene.

Meanwhile, Chanyeol has found a duckling and is playing with it, Yixing is with the chicks, and Baekhyun has a Shetland pony to feed. Kyungsoo and Jongdae have a cria each; Kyungsoo’s an alpaca.

Jongin sits down at the side of the zoo, looking around him with wide, frightened eyes. He’s been there a few moments when a tiny pink teacup piglet trots up to him and nudges him. Jongin looks down in wonder.

“Pick him up,” Joonmyun tells him, and he smiles. “He likes you.”

Jongin nervously picks up the little creature and settles him on his lap like a dog. The piglet is very interested in exploring him, but he seems happy, and before long he settles down for a nap, like the rabbit in Joonmyun’s lap. Jongin smiles down at the creature, and he seems content to just remain there as Joonmyun works through his drawing.

When Joonmyun’s finished, he turns the page and begins to sketch Jongin, his content smile, and the baby piglet in his lap. As he draws, he thinks that seeing Jongin smile like this was the best gift he could receive today.

As much as Joonmyun would like to, they can’t stay there forever. They leave after a good forty minutes with the animals. Joonmyun’s kid and Jongin’s piglet don’t want them to leave, and both try to follow them out before the zoo attendants spot them and gently pull them back to play with a pair of young children. Joonmyun waves goodbye to the kid as it is led away, and finally they’re out.

They head to the talk on conservation first, stopping to look at flamingos and tigers. Absently, Joonmyun is reminded of Zitao’s animal form, and wonders if he’ll come to see the tigers himself.

Just round a few more corners is a lone wolf.

The wolf is in a large cage on its own. There is grass beneath its feet and its habitat has water and natural-seeming objects and obstacles for the wolf, like a tree stump and a long rock, but the wolf seems miserable. Jongin stops still beside it, looking in with a sad look on his face.

“Hey there,” he says to the wolf, who stops pacing its cage to look at him. “Don’t be sad, it’s not that bad in here. I know what it’s like to feel trapped. It gets better.”

He stops talking to watch the wolf, almost like he’s having a conversation and listening to the response. The image is sad, a miserable-looking boy and a miserable-looking wolf sharing an experience, and it makes Joonmyun feel sad as well.

He almost can’t bear to pull Jongin away from his kindred animal, but they’re still five minutes from the lecture hall, and the talk starts in only a few minutes. He links his arm with Jongin’s and slowly pulls him away, giving Jongin to say goodbye to the wolf.

As they walk towards the lecture hall, Joonmyun loosens his arm from Jongin’s, dropping his hand down by his side. Not a moment later, he feels Jongin link their fingers together, and he sneaks a look down at their conjoined hands, entwined for only the second time. His long and thin fingers are dwarfed by Jongin’s larger, stockier ones, and Joonmyun thinks they match rather well.

~*~*~

Joonmyun writes his project when he gets home from the zoo, talking about the ways that conservation zoos protect animals, and the few conservation trusts around the world that keep endangered animals and put them back into the wild when they’re no longer in danger of becoming extinct. He annotates the project with his own drawings, showing the cycle of conservation life.

When he’s finished his project, he takes out the drawings he did. He gets his drawing tablet and begins to re-sketch the scenes.

It takes him a good hour or more to work on the drawing of Jongin with the piglet, capturing Jongin’s smile perfectly. He colours it with the appropriate amount of light and shading and then saves the drawing.

Later that night he prints off a copy and rolls it up, wrapping an elastic band around it, to take to school the next day as a gift.

Jongin, when he receives it, doesn’t seem to have any words to give Joonmyun except, “Thank you.” He cradles the drawing, as the rest of them coo over his shoulder about how skilled Joonmyun is, and won’t let any of them touch it.

He catches Joonmyun once the rest have left for class. “This is amazing, Hyung,” he breathes. “I can’t tell you what it means to me.”

“It’s just a drawing,” Joonmyun says with a smile. “You looked so happy, and it was very cute. I like cute things.”

Jongin’s blush rises up his face, and Joonmyun reaches up and ruffles his hair. For a moment Jongin’s just a cute boy, not the one who sucks Joonmyun’s dick until he comes, and Joonmyun is thankful for that.

~*~*~

It takes them another week of discussing ideas of what they can do for the January festival before Jongin meekly suggests that he join the music club, to the group’s delight.

“Wonderful!” Yixing says, with a smile. “Would you like to dance for us?”

“Can you sing?” Baekhyun asks over him, and then he makes a noise of pain. “What did you do that for?” he hisses at Kyungsoo, who just smiles back at him innocently.

“I’m not good at singing but I can try,” Jongin says. “I can sing back-up for you?”

“You can just dance if you want to,” Yixing assures him. “Don’t listen to Baekhyun. He’s not even _in_ our music club.”

Jongin joins that week, coming along with Joonmyun as he heads to the music room. He’s made to do a performance on the spot to prove his worthiness to join late. He throws himself into the chorus of _Sorry, Sorry_ followed by a quick freestyle and wows the room with his ability to sing and dance at the same time. He was wrong when he said he can’t sing—he’s no Jongdae or Kyungsoo, but he’s certainly passable.

Joonmyun had known he could dance already, from the weeks of learning, but it’s different to sit there and watch as he performs to the best of his ability, and he feels a kind of pride that he found Jongin first.

“I thought he was just a weirdo, but he’s really talented!” he hears one girl whisper to another at the end of the club meeting.

“Yeah, and isn’t he cute? Do you think he’s got a girlfriend?” her friend replies.

Joonmyun swallows down the urge to say he’s taken, and sticks to clapping Jongin on the shoulder instead.

~*~*~

They spend the last week before December starting to rehearse as their newly formed unit. Chanyeol is on the drums, Yixing on the guitar. Joonmyun sings along with Baekhyun, who is doing his absolute best to overshadow Joonmyun with all his vocal prowess. Jongin dances to the music as their centrepiece, occasionally singing backup when required. Kyungsoo and Jongdae have their own choir performance, and therefore are both unable to take part in their band. Joonmyun loves them but part of him is happy that their band is so small and that he’s not relegated only to standing and singing harmonies for the more talented singers.

He enjoys the practices more than he thought he would, what with them taking time away from his art and his homework. He gets to spend time with most of his favourite people doing something they love together, where there’s no animosity between Chanyeol and Jongin. Joonmyun thinks that Chanyeol even becomes grudgingly accepting of Jongin, so much so that, if Jongin’s five minutes late, he starts wondering where he is. He always claims it’s because they’ll have to start over again when he comes, but Joonmyun knows it’s because he’s worried. Without one member, they’re incomplete, and it doesn’t have the same feeling as with all of them.

It’s also fun to joke around and relax at this time of year, especially with the way Joonmyun’s life has gone.

However, that means that December’s full moon sneaks up on Joonmyun before he’s really aware of it.

~*~*~

It strikes during morning classes. Joonmyun is sweating profusely by the time he gets to leave, trying to conceal the signs of his affliction from his teacher and classmates. Yixing, thankfully, is in the same class as him and Chanyeol seems to have informed of him of what happens, because he does his best to draw attention from Joonmyun. Joonmyun has never realised how his calm personality reflects his unicorn nature until now. It’s almost like he has calming pheromones, and they work wonders, even calming himself in the process.

But once he’s out of the classroom the panic hits him and he doesn’t even have the presence of mind to get himself to the furthest away toilets. He just needs to find Jongin, now.

He’s very lucky in that Jongin always spends breaks in his classroom, unlike the other students who leave to get midmorning snacks. This means he’s able to run to Jongin’s class. “Now,” he pants when he gets there, and Jongin grabs his bag and is out of the room in seconds.

They weave through the school together, until they find the old and abandoned drama room that Joonmyun had found Jongin in so long ago. Once inside, they bar the door with heavy tables. There are no cameras in here, which Joonmyun is once again grateful for.

Jongin presses Joonmyun up against the wall on the inside of the door. He drops his bag to the ground and allows Joonmyun to do the same, before undoing Joonmyun’s trousers and pulling them down.

“Not a lot of time,” Jongin says, mouthing against Joonmyun’s hard cock. “We’ll have to hope it doesn’t take too long today.”

Joonmyun drops his head back against the wall, panting. His fingers clench into fists either side of his body.

“There’s so much I want to do, but there’s no time,” Jongin mumbles before taking Joonmyun into his mouth.

He sucks like there’s a race going on, utterly too quickly, tongue laving saliva onto the skin of Joonmyun’s cock. One hand plays with Joonmyun’s balls as the other rummages around in his bag and comes out with lube. He coats his fingers and Joonmyun braces his body for the inevitable satisfying entrance into his body. His body welcomes the intrusion, two fingers and then three, and Joonmyun wishes, for a moment, that he could see the fingers disappear into his body.

Jongin probes around until he touches Joonmyun’s prostate, stimulating it gently until it’s too much for Joonmyun and stars explode across his eyelids. Jongin doesn’t pull back in time and when he does it’s with a grimace, saliva and semen strings attaching his mouth to Joonmyun’s still-hard dick.

“I bought you this,” Jongin says, and his fingers slip out of Joonmyun. Out of his bag, he brings out a thin white dildo made of silicone.

It’s probably a bit longer than Joonmyun is and he swallows at the thought of introducing it into his body, his eyes nearly rolling back in his head at the thought.

“It doesn’t vibrate,” Jongin says. “But we can try it?”

Joonmyun slips down the wall and onto the floor, trying not to get tangled up in his trousers. “Please,” he says.

He watches as Jongin coats the dildo liberally, and then he feels it press against his entrance.

“We can still stop,” Jongin says. “It might be better to try it when we’ve got more time to spare?”

But Joonmyun feels like his cock is going to explode, and he impatiently presses back against the silicone, feeling it start to slide past the ring of muscle at his entrance.

It’s thicker than two of Jongin’s fingers but not three, and as such it doesn’t burn all that much as it slides further into his body. It is, however, longer. With it inside, he feels much fuller than before, and lets out a moan that is far too loud to be made at school. He stuffs his tie into his mouth a third time, trying not to make it too obvious.

Jongin thrusts the toy in and out of Joonmyun probably slower than they have time for, but Joonmyun thinks that being late for one class is worth it if this is the cause. He rocks back in time with the thrusts, the toy brushing constantly against where Joonmyun needs it most.

It doesn’t take long before his breath comes quickly in pants. Jongin thrusts the toy faster, sensing his desperation, and he comes all over the floor with a high-pitched moan, his dick softening once more.

He doesn’t have time to come down from his high, because Jongin moves him out of the way to clean his come up from the floor and tuck him back into his clothes. “We’ve got to go,” he says. “We’re late for class.”

“Too tired,” Joonmyun whines. “I just want to go home and sleep.”

“Maybe you can go to the sick bay,” Jongin suggests. “I could take you?”

The _double entendre_ is unintentional but Joonmyun’s still thinking with his dick and he moans without meaning to. Jongin smacks his buttocks.

“Stop that,” he says. “Come on now, we’ll clean up in the bathroom first.”

They do so, cleaning the toy as well and sliding it into Joonmyun’s bag for emergencies, and then Jongin takes Joonmyun to the sick bay, where he collapses into a bed.

“You do have the remnants of a fever,” the nurse agrees, pulling the quilt up around him. “Sleep until lunch.”

Joonmyun proceeds to do just that.

~*~*~

Just typically, it doesn’t occur the next day until late at night. Joonmyun had already expected that once music club had begun and nothing happened even after they’d finished. Jongin had wowed them all once more, despite not being the most talented of singers, and even Chanyeol had had a good go at singing.

He lies in bed with a small bottle of lube and kicks his pyjama bottoms off and onto the floor, and experimentally strokes around his hole with lubricated fingers. Doing it to himself is different from Jongin doing it, and he takes his time sliding in one finger, then two. He stretches himself, feeling the burn and the sensation of his inner walls. His fingers aren’t long enough to reach his prostate, so once he’s fully stretched he lubes up the toy and slowly slides it inside himself, pausing to enjoy the girth inside himself again.

He thrusts the dildo in and out, bucking his hips up towards it and trying to do his best to remain as quiet as he possibly can so that his parents won’t hear and come to investigate.

After the first time he comes, catching it in a towel he’s laid out just in case, his arm feels tired and he positions himself so he’s kneeling, and he slides down onto the toy, holding it into place. From this angle the dildo hits better, splashing stars over his eyelids as it hits just right. He comes a second time, and this time he waits a few minutes before lying on his back again and finishing himself off for the night with a few quick jerks of his fist. After three orgasms all he wants to do is fall asleep, but he hides the evidence and opens a window first, before collapsing into bed.

~*~*~

On Thursday, Joonmyun quietly mentions to Jongin that it works on his own. Jongin seems delighted by this, and invites Joonmyun over to his house after school.

This turns out to be excellent news, as it hits partway to Jongin’s house. They rush to get there before it’s too noticeable.

Inside, they make short work of Joonmyun’s clothing, and he ends up on Jongin’s bed, face down with his bottom in the air.

“I’m going to try something else,” Jongin says, and he presses open-mouthed kisses to the base of Joonmyun’s spine and then travels down, placing a kiss on each of his buttocks. “You can say no to anything. It’s all about you.” There is a rustle of a condom, even though Joonmyun knows it isn’t for Jongin.

“If you’re willing to try, so am I,” Joonmyun assures him, though somewhat confused. A moment later there is something pressed against his bottom, and then there is hot wetness swiping up his crack and he realises what Jongin is doing. This might be the strangest experience of his life. He thinks it must be up there for Jongin too. Who decides that at fifteen they want to stick their tongue in someone’s bottom, even with the aid of a condom? Jongin, apparently. “Oh—” he breathes. “You want to do this?”

“Yes,” Jongin says. “I do.”

He breathes against Joonmyun, and his whole body jerks. He then licks over the puckered hole and the sensations vibrate through Joonmyun, resulting in a loud moan.

Jongin clutches his hips tighter and then, with the aid of lube, noticeable as wet fingers trail along Joonmyun’s body and balls, his tongue slowly slips inside.

The feeling is different from being fingered or from having a toy inside him. There’s an overwhelming feeling of warmth, and also the knowledge that Jongin trusts him enough to do this, and _likes_ him enough. On top of already being turned on by the heat, he feels like this is the kind of thing that could make him fall for a person properly, and the idea scares him. Everything is happening much too fast. The problem is, he doesn’t mind it.

Jongin licks and sucks on Joonmyun’s rim until it becomes too much to bear and he comes all over the bed. Then Jongin slips his fingers inside as he kisses his arse and breathes over his entrance, skating over his prostate, two more times.

Joonmyun feels apologetic that he’s coated Jongin’s bed in his come and probably screamed loud enough that the whole building knows what they were up to, but Jongin doesn’t seem to mind.

When Jongin goes to get a cloth to clean Joonmyun with, Joonmyun relaxes on the bed, looking around the room for the first time since they got there. His drawing of Jongin and the piglet is up in a new frame, pride of place above the bed, and Joonmyun smiles with absolute delight. It looks perfect.

~*~*~

Joonmyun has come to realise he likes sex as much as any teenager who is getting it somewhat regularly (debatably), but it’s nice to wake up and know that if he wants to get himself off in the near future it’ll be because he wants to, not because hormones directly linked to the lunar cycle are telling him to.

This means that once again he is the happiest person at the lunch table, revelling in his newfound peace.

“You’re happy,” Kyungsoo comments, with a laugh. “It’s nice.”

“You mean he’s _here_ , Soo,” Baekhyun says. He turns to Joonmyun. “You’re not going to run off again and have a quickie today?” He indicates Jongin and laughs. “You guys are cute boyfriends, trying to conceal it.”

He says it teasingly, without much seriousness to his tone, but Joonmyun feels his face heat up at the idea that they are aware of what happens between him and Jongin behind closed doors. “It’s not—” he squeaks, but he can’t finish his sentence. It’s _exactly_ what they do, except they’re not boyfriends. They’re _mates_. There’s a difference, or at least he thinks there is one.

“It’s none of your business what they do or don’t do,” Chanyeol says, and his tone is warning.

“Oh, c’mon,” Baekhyun says, turning to Jongdae for moral support. Jongdae shrugs.

“I dunno,” he says. “Not worth it to get up in love drama. I’m still trying to work out how you hooked Kyungsoo.”

Baekhyun lets out a completely unmanly shriek and dives for Jongdae, who scrambles out of the way and runs behind Joonmyun. Chanyeol guffaws happily and Kyungsoo alternates between glaring daggers at him and at Jongdae via Joonmyun. Joonmyun just stares at Baekhyun in surprise. He’s thought it before, but when Baekhyun hadn’t told him he’d brushed it off. But apparently he was right all along.

Later, Joonmyun thanks Jongdae for it, and he shrugs. “It’s not my place to get in between you guys and your boyfriends.” He pauses. “Plus he deserved that. You haven’t seen how mushy they get when they think nobody’s paying them attention. It’s worse than Chanyeol and Yixing-hyung.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Joonmyun says, and it’s only later that he realises that at no point did he or Jongin say that they _aren’t_ dating.

He wonders if that means they are and Jongin just hasn’t said anything, and then, if they’re dating, that means kisses. He’d quite like to kiss Jongin, he thinks. He’s just not yet sure if he’s allowed or not.

~*~*~

It seems like Joonmyun just blinks and then it’s the big camping trip.

Everyone is understandably really excited. Jongin’s never been to a place like this so he doesn’t know what to expect, and it’s been years since Joonmyun was away from home. It’s the first time their school is trying this out, seeing if this strange rest works out. Joonmyun hopes it does, and that nobody messes it up.

They travel to school with their overnight bags on the Friday morning. The students whose parents didn’t give permission remain behind for a normal day of lessons, whilst the rest crowd into school buses.

Joonmyun ends up sitting across the row from Yixing, who convinces the boy next to him to swap so that Joonmyun can sit there. They make small talk during the journey, sharing little titbits of history about Chanyeol. Yixing seems very happy with him, if his obvious fondness is anything to go by. Joonmyun wonders if he seems as fond of anyone, of Jongin, as Yixing is of Chanyeol.

They get to their holiday destination at around eleven that morning. It’s a large grassy site, partway up a mountain, with wooden cabins all around. Joonmyun realises that the girls must have been taken elsewhere when he notices that there don’t seem to be any, when he knows they got into buses.

“This is where we will be staying until Monday morning,” one of the teachers says, before launching into the rules; no going near the girls’ camp, no wandering off alone, no wandering off without informing one of the teachers first, always turn up to meals on time, remember to study.

“There is a hot spring for those who want to relax,” another teachers says. “You will have a two hour period each day in which to enjoy it. The rest of the time is your own.”

The cabins each have multiple double rooms, and they’re allowed to choose their roommate. Joonmyun watches as Chanyeol places his hand on Yixing’s shoulder, and Baekhyun and Kyungsoo stand closer together. Joonmyun looks around the group of male students to see who to pick, and then nearly gets knocked over as a body slams into him. He turns, once steady, to face a sheepish and apologetic-looking Jongin and, behind him, a grinning Baekhyun.

“Boyfriends!” Baekhyun mouths, and then beams as he gives Joonmyun two thumbs up.

Joonmyun rolls his eyes—of course.

But he doesn’t protest the room assignment, because it makes sense. He then wonders who Jongdae will share a room with, seeing as he’s the only one of their group not in a relationship.

He doesn’t get to see who Jongdae gets or chooses, because Jongin links their arms together and drags Joonmyun away to receive their cabin key.

They dump their bags inside the tiny wooden room with its bunk-beds, bedside table with lamp, and absolutely nothing else, before leaving to explore.

There are multiple cabins, and it takes them a long time to work out that although most are for sleeping in, there are also a few bathroom cabins, the dinner cabin, and two hot sauna cabins, which are currently full of students trying them out. Joonmyun shakes his head at how full both saunas are, because it can’t be comfortable to sit in a room full of so many sweaty boys.

Joonmyun and Jongin keep wandering around, bumping into Chanyeol and Yixing as they go. They decide to head up the mountain path to the hot spring. Chanyeol wants to go straight up there, but Joonmyun and Yixing insist they tell a teacher first.

Once their duty is done and they’re given permission to look, they begin the slow climb up the rocky mountain path. Soon all of them are panting, even Jongin.

“Why are we doing this again?” Joonmyun asks, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the bottom of his t-shirt.

“Hot spring!” Chanyeol manages to sound excited even through the panting and the sweating. Yixing pats him on the shoulder in a somewhat patronising way, but Chanyeol doesn’t seem at all bothered.

The hot spring itself, once they finally get there, is a steaming natural pool in the surface of the mountain, with a constant flow of water from a thin waterfall over to one side, and a thin stream leaving it to trickle down towards the camp. The steam coming from it causes Joonmyun to sweat again, and he thinks that it would be nice to come here at night, when it’s cooler, and relax in the water before heading back down the mountain in a better, cleaner state for dinner.

They sit beside the hot spring for a few moments to relax, and end up drifting off in the heat of the morning.

They wake up with only a few moments until lunch and all end up running down the mountain, arriving at the bottom wet and sweaty. Nobody sits at their table for lunch, not even Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Jongdae.

Joonmyun doesn’t entirely care.

~*~*~

They don’t go back to the hot spring that day, they just spend the afternoon studying, and after having showers, throw themselves into bed.

Jongin’s breath is loud in the room and Joonmyun stares up at the bunk above him, trying to drift off, but his brain is awake with all sorts of thoughts. He wishes he could read, but he doesn’t want to turn the lamp on in case it wakes Jongin up.

But Jongin isn’t asleep either. “Hyung?” he whispers, too loud in the quiet room.

“Yeah,” Joonmyun replies.

“I—” Then there’s a creaking sound as Jongin climbs down the ladder.

“Jongin?” Joonmyun whispers. His eyes adjust to the sight of Jongin, who sits on the edge of the bed and looks down at him. Joonmyun pushes himself up into a sitting position, feeling uncomfortable lying down.

They stare at each other in the darkness for a moment, neither of them moving, and then Jongin’s moving towards him far too quickly.

Their noses bump, though not painfully, before Jongin’s soft, warm lips brush against his own.

It’s both a surprise and not a surprise at all, because Joonmyun wants to kiss Jongin, has wanted to for days, but hadn't quite realised that Jongin did as well.

Jongin pulls back after a moment and Joonmyun can’t help fisting Jongin’s shirt and pulling him back.

Their second kiss is fiery and powerful, and leaves Joonmyun weak-kneed and breathless. He’s grateful for the support of the bed beneath him; if he’d been standing, he would have collapsed.

Jongin pushes him back down into the bed and they kiss until they need to breathe. Then there are no words that need to be said, as Jongin slides under the quilt and wraps an arm around Joonmyun’s waist.

Joonmyun is able to sleep like this, with the sound of Jongin’s soft breathing in his ear, and his warmth against his skin, and he realises that this is what he’s needed all along.

~*~*~

They play football the next day, collecting Sehun and Zitao and some of Yixing’s friends to have a good game.

Joonmyun isn’t very good at it. He’s fairly fit, especially with all the dancing, but he doesn’t entirely understand the rules of the game. He prefers basketball, but he’s been told far too many times that he’s too short for it. He’s not too short for football, because nobody is too short for football.

Running across the grass is fun, and mixing with new people is fun, but everything has to come to an end. Joonmyun’s team lose spectacularly, and Joonmyun thinks it’s probably his fault, although nobody overtly blames him. Most of the group peel away, leaving the original seven.

They relax for some time before someone suggests a game of Truth or Dare.

Chanyeol dives straight in, when the bottle they use lands on Kyungsoo, instantly daring Baekhyun and Kyungsoo to prove their relationship before Kyungsoo is even able to answer with _dare_.

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “You’re so transparent,” he says, whilst Baekhyun just laughs.

“I was expecting that from Jongdae,” he says, “actually.”

But they seem perfectly willing to kiss, if Baekhyun is just a little too handsy with Kyungsoo. Joonmyun thinks it’s sweet, but Jongin, Jongdae and Chanyeol are all jokily gagging.

“You can stop now,” Chanyeol says gruffly, and they reluctantly draw apart from each other and settle back down with a giggle.

Truths and dares get sent around the circle. Jongin gets asked whether he enjoys being a werewolf (no). Jongdae is asked if he likes anyone (yes).

Joonmyun is asked, by an overly inquisitive Jongdae, whether he’s had sex yet. Joonmyun can’t bring himself to speak, because, for a few moments, all he can feel is pure embarrassment. He’s not one of the boys who easily chats with his friends about how much he gets off.

Joonmyun shakes his head silently and is surprised that they don’t laugh too much.

“You should probably get in there,” Jongdae teases, patting Jongin on the back, and then has a laugh at his own word choice.

Joonmyun just blushes and spins the bottle. It lands on Baekhyun, who instantly demands a dare.

“Um,” Joonmyun says, trying to come up with something. “Sit on Kyungsoo’s lap.”

Baekhyun does so easily, sliding over and into Kyungsoo’s lap. “For how long?” he asks, a little brattily, as he wriggles around. Kyungsoo bites his upper arm, seemingly in protest, before flushing with embarrassment and pulling away with a jerk.

“Sorry!” he almost squeaks.

Joonmyun shrugs, although he notices Jongin curl up into himself a little. “Until you get dared to do something else,” he says.

Baekhyun asks Yixing if Chanyeol is romantic (he has his moments), and the next few rotations seem to miss Joonmyun entirely.

And then Jongdae has control again, with the bottle pointing at Chanyeol.

“I dare you to make out with the person you like most out of all of us, except Yixing-hyung,” Jongdae says, and he looks proud of himself.

Chanyeol blinks at him for a moment, before turning to Yixing, who smiles at him.

“I have no issue with this,” Yixing says with a smile and a shrug.

Chanyeol looks at all of them slowly, as if deciding. For some reason, Joonmyun finds his heart pounding in his chest. He considers Chanyeol his best friend, but he isn’t sure if the feeling is mutual. Though he remembers Chanyeol’s hand around his dick and the words he’d said, and thinks that he may very well be.

“It’s not me is it?” Baekhyun jokes. “I know I’m perfect, but I’d rather not.”

Kyungsoo smacks him. “Of course it’s not you,” he says, sounding completely doubtless. “Don’t be like that.”

Chanyeol’s eyes do eventually reach Joonmyun. “Sorry,” he mutters, as he pulls himself the few feet across the circle to reach him. Joonmyun isn’t sure if he’s saying it to him or to Jongin, who seems overly still next to him, watching with extreme focus.

Chanyeol is gentle, touching behind Joonmyun’s neck and pulling him in close. Their lips don’t touch for a moment as they both stare at each other.

Joonmyun has never thought about kissing Chanyeol before, unlike with Jongin. Chanyeol is his best friend. Maybe he was the only one he’d shared his dick needs with, but Joonmyun has never wanted a romantic relationship with him before. Everything about this is far too strange.

But it’s a dare, and they have to kiss. Chanyeol bridges the gap between them, pressing their mouths together and instantly licking for access. Joonmyun opens his mouth because he knows he has to, but he doesn’t enjoy the kiss, because he’s too busy thinking about Jongin and Yixing to focus on it, even if Chanyeol is talented, and this is likely to be the only time in his life that he gets to kiss him.

It clearly doesn’t look like a fake kiss, if the catcalling from their friends is anything to go by.

Their tongues fight from necessity rather than fun, and then Joonmyun can breathe again, as he’s pulled away by the back of his shirt. “Stop kissing my boyfriend,” Jongin grumbles to Chanyeol, who backs away with his hands up in a pacifying gesture.

The word _boyfriend_ sends shivers of warmth up Joonmyun’s spine and he blushes, feeling warmth rise up his cheeks. He covers them with embarrassment and Baekhyun coos.

They keep the game going. Yixing is dared, by Baekhyun, who declares Jongdae’s idea of a dare to be the best thing ever, to kiss the person he finds most attractive—not including Chanyeol. Yixing instantly crosses the circle to Jongdae. Chanyeol twitches during the entire momentary kiss, clearly doing his best to stop himself from pulling Yixing away. Joonmyun grins at it.

“I dare Baekhyun to go over to the girls’ camp and bring something back,” Chanyeol says, abandoning all pretence of the game.

“Can I shift?” Baekhyun asks cheerfully, and Chanyeol nods.

Baekhyun doesn’t bother undressing, he just stands from Kyungsoo’s lap and then his body shrinks down into a brown weasel.

Jongin stares wide-eyed at him, and Joonmyun realises that it’s the first time that Jongin has seen a transformation happen, let alone a painless one. He reaches over to take Jongin’s hand, hoping to be comforting, as the weasel rushes up the mountain. They’ve recently worked out that the girls’ camp is on the other side of the mountain, and therefore easy to get to, if they wanted to try.

They joke around until he gets back some time later, and he spits something out of his mouth. Joonmyun looks at it for a moment, two circles of material attached with a bar, and some straps, before he realises that it’s a bra.

“Well that’ll do,” Chanyeol says admiringly, poking the bra with the tip of a finger. “Strange thing, this.”

They play with the bra for a few moments, examining it, until they realise that it’s close to dinner. Kyungsoo scoops up Baekhyun’s clothes and the bra, before wrapping them around Baekhyun, still in weasel form. They head back to their cabins first to wash up.

“Did you mean it?” Joonmyun asks quietly. “When you said we’re—? That I’m—?”

Jongin looks worried for a moment. “Should I have asked?” he says. “I’m sorry.”

“It just surprised me a little,” Joonmyun says. “But mostly I’m happy.”

“Then yes, I meant it,” Jongin says, and he kisses Joonmyun gently. “You are my boyfriend.”

Joonmyun couldn’t feel happier.

~*~*~

They wake up on the final day to an announcement from the teachers.

“One of the female students lost one of her personal belongings last night,” the teacher says. “I have been led to believe it’s very important and expensive. If any of you know where it is, or who took it, please take it back to her this morning, and you won’t be punished.”

Joonmyun turns to glare at Baekhyun, who sheepishly nods.

Joonmyun supervises as Baekhyun shifts back into weasel form to return the bra. He comes back looking particularly ruffled, and throws himself into Kyungsoo’s arms entirely naked.

“Kyungsoo!” he almost cries. “It was horrible! They—they tried to—”

“Did they try to catch you?” Kyungsoo asks, sounding worried. Joonmyun can’t tell, because he’s busy not looking at Baekhyun’s nakedness (his bottom is rather more shapely than Chanyeol’s, at the very least).

“They tried to hug me!” Baekhyun wails, and Joonmyun can’t help himself from bursting into laughter. “It’s not funny! It was really scary. They cooed over how I’d got myself tangled up in the bra and then they tried to pick me up. I lost some of my fur!”

“Poor thing,” Kyungsoo coos. “I know just the thing to make you feel better.”

Joonmyun gets out of there as fast as he is able.

~*~*~

The final day is the day they first get to swelter in the saunas for ten minutes before peeling themselves out to study, and they finally get to use the hot springs in the early evening.

They all sit in the water in their swimming costumes, sharing scary stories as the sun sets.

They start off fine, stories about ghosts that don’t make anyone except Joonmyun scared, even though he tries not to show it. But then Baekhyun tells a strange story about a young wolf who lives in the woods behind a school and who impregnates lots of animals until there are tons of half-wolf babies about the place.

“They will one day band together and kill their father,” Baekhyun says. “And then they will be unstoppable.”

Jongin rolls his eyes, but this means that they all decide that werewolf stories are fair game. There’s a slightly creepy retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, and then a story about a wolf who is in love with a human who he can’t have, and how he can hear her crying for him at night time. Joonmyun thinks this story is romantic until he realises that the human the wolf wants is dead. Then it stops being nice anymore and just sends shivers down his spine.

The last story is about a basically Bambi, only werewolves. The parents are killed off by hunters.

It makes Joonmyun uncomfortable, and clearly also Chanyeol, because he says, “No, stop, we can’t have this story. It’s too close to home.”

“What do you mean?” Jongdae asks.

“Well, I mean—Jongin’s parents,” Chanyeol says, as if it’s obvious, and then he freezes, a look of horror spreading over his face. “Oh,” he says.

“What do you mean, my parents?” Jongin asks quietly.

“Um,” Chanyeol says, and he looks sheepish. “There was—it’s nothing, I’m sure. It’s just that there were a pair of werewolves killed. And they left a child behind, who was adopted out.”

Jongin looks like he’s going to be sick. “They were my parents, weren’t they,” he says, rather than ask.

“I think they might have been,” Chanyeol says. “We can’t know for sure.”

“It makes sense,” Jongin says. “My parents didn’t know I was a wolf.” He raises his head to look at Chanyeol, and the anguish in his eyes is enough to hurt Joonmyun, too. “Were you ever going to tell me?” he asks.

“I…” Chanyeol says, and he doesn’t finish.

“I thought not,” Jongin says, and then he stands and climbs out of the spring. “I’m going.” He grabs his clothes and a towel and begins the long walk back down the mountain without even drying off.

Joonmyun only hesitates a moment to put shoes on before he chases after him.

Jongin becomes a wreck, when they get to their cabin. He curls up on Joonmyun’s bed and starts to cry. “My parents were murdered,” he says. “I never even knew them.”

“I’m sorry,” Joonmyun says, and he tries to wipe Jongin’s tears away. “I’m so sorry.”

“Chanyeol-hyung,” Jongin says, the first time attaching an honorific to anyone’s name but Joonmyun’s, “wasn’t even going to tell me.”

“I’m sure he didn’t want to hurt you,” Joonmyun says, thinking back to when he’d been told too. “And he wanted to be sure it was your family. He’s still not sure.”

“I’m sure,” Jongin says, and then he reaches out to Joonmyun. Joonmyun goes willingly, wrapping his arms around Jongin and holding him until his tears subside.

“Please don’t keep secrets from me, not if it’s about something so important,” Jongin whispers, once he’s calmed down. “I know you knew. Chanyeol-hyung tells you everything.”

Joonmyun can’t lie. He nods. “I knew his suspicions,” he says. “And I won’t. I promise. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Jongin kisses him. “I know you didn’t want to hurt me,” he says, once they draw apart, “but I need to know. I _need_ to know.”

Joonmyun doesn’t know how to respond to that, so he kisses Jongin once again, hoping to share some kind of comfort physically that he can’t express with words. He hopes it helps ease the pain a little, because he doesn’t know how else to help.

~*~*~

The next morning Jongin seems to be feeling better. He lets Chanyeol hug him in apology without shoving him off and smiles at some of Jongdae’s jokes.

The teachers make a statement about how the personal belonging of the female student was found, though there’s no mention of it being brought back by a weasel.

They file back into their buses after breakfast, and Joonmyun and Jongin get to sit next to each other. The bus lulls them back to sleep, heads resting against each other and hands entwined.

It was a nice break, Joonmyun thinks, just before he falls asleep, even if they didn’t do much studying. He got to spend time with his friends and his boyfriend and he no longer has any secrets from the younger boy. And he likes that.

~*~*~

After their break, December gets busy with revision, band practice and practice tests.

Joonmyun works his socks off, dancing, singing, painting, drawing, studying and everything else that comes with being a seventeen year old just before his final year in school.

They get Christmas off from school. His family, who are strictly Buddhist, don’t celebrate Christmas, so Joonmyun spends it painting pictures for his friends as gifts for the new calendar year.

It’s only a few days after that that the last full moon of the year happens, before 2010 is ushered in. Helpfully enough, the actual full moon is on New Year’s Eve, and they have New Year’s Day off from school.

“It’s going to be a partial lunar eclipse,” Jongin says on the Monday before. “They tend to be easier, though total eclipses are the best, no matter how long they take. I usually end up with fewer scratches and scars after full moons.”

Yixing and Zitao are the only ones who are allowed out during the New Year, so they send for reinforcements. Lu Han and Kevin come back from university to join them, though Joonmyun doesn’t get the chance to see Kevin. This is a shame, but he knows there will be other opportunities, as long as he waits.

~*~*~

Joonmyun wakes up on the first day of the full moon with the realisation that this is the last full moon before Jongin’s wolf becomes mature and they’re able to finish this properly—though, he thinks they won’t be doing any _permanent_ finishing, the way this is going.

Heat hits mid-afternoon, just before their afternoon dance practice. Joonmyun manages to last until they’re in a room on their own before yanking his trousers and underwear down in his haste to get Jongin’s hands on him.

Jongin helps him down onto the floor so he’s lying on his back and then wraps his hand around Joonmyun’s dick, stroking it slowly and steadily. But Joonmyun needs faster, and so he knocks Jongin’s hand away to stroke himself. Jongin watches with wide eyes as Joonmyun gets himself off, as he moans and pants, as he contorts, body lifting from the ground, as he comes, ropes of white splashing over his stomach where his shirt has lifted.

Jongin shakes his head at it, eyes wide in wonder, before dipping down to kiss Joonmyun, licking into his mouth.

Once he’s calmed down from his high, Joonmyun nudges Jongin, quite needy once again. Jongin pulls away from the kiss and heads to his back, pulling out the lubricant.

“Would you like to try something different?” Jongin asks. “I saw this last night. It’ll involve a lot of patience and it’ll hurt if you get scared and your body clenches.”

Joonmyun feels worried at the description. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to see how many fingers I can fit inside you,” Jongin says, no embarrassment audible in his voice. Joonmyun swallows.

“I’m not sure you can fit many,” he says, “but okay.”

Jongin dribbles a lot of lubricant into his hand, before slowly teasing one finger around Joonmyun’s hole. He’s had three fingers inside before but no more, and he’s a little nervous at what it’ll be like. But he’s grateful for the entrance of the first and second fingers, and then the third is able to fit with extra lube and stretching.

Even more lube, and Jongin’s little finger presses past the rim. Joonmyun moans his loudest yet today, eyes feeling like they’ll roll back into his head. Four fingers is so warm and so tight, and they’re deep inside and are pushing gently against his prostate.

“I’m not sure I can take five,” he pants.

“Shhhh,” Jongin says, soothingly. “Of course you can.”

But he lets Joonmyun get used to four for a few minutes, stretching and spreading them and then pulling them out only to thrust them back in. Joonmyun feels himself get looser as he stops tensing and allows this.

When he seems pliant, Joonmyun feels the pad of Jongin’s thumb brush up against his rim and he moans loudly once again. “Ohhh,” he breathes.

“Easy does it,” Jongin mutters, pouring extra lube onto his thumb before slowly pushing it inside, up to the base of the knuckle, pushing his fingers more firmly against Joonmyun’s prostate.

It’s like this that Joonmyun comes the hardest he’s ever come in his life, with a shout that physically lifts him from the floor, intense stars flashing across his eyes, and a thick streak of white splattering over them.

He softens and Jongin pulls his hand out slowly. He allows Joonmyun to rest for ten minutes, and then stands up. “So, dancing?”

Joonmyun groans and rolls over.

~*~*~

New Year’s Eve is another late job. It strikes barely before midnight. The wolf will be sleeping now, he thinks. It’s a partial eclipse.

Joonmyun’s parents are out celebrating the New Year and Joonmyun stayed in because he wanted to study, so he is alone, and is able to moan uninhibited.

He is studying, he thinks, as he stares at the porn site he has open, watching two boys fuck each other as he thrusts his dildo in and out of himself.

There’s a video he likes the look of, where one boy smears a mixture of lubricant and come over the thighs of another and fucks him like that. Joonmyun wants to do that with Jongin, and he comes the second out of four times watching that. He also comes imagining Jongin giving him another blowjob, the dildo mostly out of himself at that point.

Finally he fingers himself into an orgasm just imagining that the fingers are Jongin’s, and he wonders when he got in so deep.

~*~*~

New Year’s Day is a day off from school.

Joonmyun goes to Jongin’s house early on in the morning and they play around, almost having a date at home. Joonmyun attempts to bake them a cake in the microwave and proves to them both how he can’t cook when it falls apart.

Otherwise they attempt to dance together and just generally have a good time, until the heat starts.

“I have something I want to try too,” Joonmyun says. “I was watching a video about how to have sex without actually doing it. This guy used the others’ thighs.”

Jongin looks surprised, although Joonmyun isn’t sure if it’s because he’s surprised that Joonmyun wants to do something or because it’s so _dirty_. But Jongin doesn’t say anything, just stands up and begins to unbutton his own trousers.

He peels them off his body, revealing his naked lower body to Joonmyun for the first time. Joonmyun gulps at the sight. Jongin’s cock, even soft, is bigger than his own, and the idea of it inside him is enough to turn him into a drooling mess.

But today isn’t about Jongin fucking Joonmyun, but rather the other way around. They smear lubricant up Jongin’s smooth thighs together, trying not to get any on his dick and only mostly succeeding.

The first slide of his cock through the wetness at Jongin’s thighs is amazing, the pressure squeezing in as Jongin clenches hard. The slip and slide is a feeling unlike any other, and Joonmyun wonders why they hadn’t thought to do it before. He wonders what it’d be like to fuck into Jongin, but knowing that that will come later, once Jongin is mature and can enjoy it.

“Is this okay?” Joonmyun asks, even though he knows that Jongin can’t feel any sexual pleasure from it.

“It’s fine,” Jongin says. “As long as it’s helping you, it’s great. I just wish I could enjoy it. But my birthday’s in two weeks, and then it’s only another two before we can fix this for you for good.”

He sounds far too eloquent for someone who is being fucked, which makes Joonmyun a little sad. But it’s not Jongin’s fault.

Joonmyun speeds up steadily as the pressure builds up inside his balls, and then he shoots his load all over the inside of Jongin’s legs, his cock, and the bed. Slipping through the mess left behind, Joonmyun just keeps going, making sure that he can properly sate himself.

It only takes another, this time quicker, fuck of Jongin’s thighs before he’s coming again, with a shout, and spilling until he softens.

Once done, Jongin heads into the bathroom to sponge himself clean and Joonmyun collapses onto the bed and stares at the ceiling. “I hope we can do that again one day,” he says aloud.

“Definitely,” Jongin says. “And I’m sure you’ll want to do _it_ , too? With me? We’ll get there.”

“I can hardly wait,” Joonmyun breathes, ripples of excitement and want running through him. But it’s not time yet.

~*~*~

It’s only two weeks until Jongin’s birthday.

Joonmyun spends a small portion of each day, after school, painting Jongin a portrait of the boy, with the wolf standing next to him, two halves of a whole. He wants to show Jongin that these past few months have taught him that Jongin isn’t fully whole if he doesn’t accept that he is part wolf. The two entwined shape Jongin’s experiences and his future. He wouldn’t be Jongin if he weren’t a werewolf. And he certainly wouldn’t be Joonmyun’s mate.

During school time they do more studying and hold more practises. The festival is the week after Jongin’s birthday, a week before the most important full moon of Joonmyun and Jongin’s lives. After the full moon is the end of year exams, and Joonmyun wants to make sure that he does his absolute best.

Alongside his gift to Jongin, Joonmyun hand-paints a large piece to submit to the festival. It’s a picture of a wolf in the woods behind their school. It’s painted to be both beautiful and creepy, the wolf seeming to move closer to the painter every time you look at it, and Joonmyun is more proud of it than anything he’s painted in his life.

The day of Jongin’s birthday, he runs to school, finding him in his classroom. “I’ll give you a gift after school,” he says, and leans in to give him a kiss—their first in school. “Happy sixteenth birthday.”

He’s not the only one who’s given Jongin a gift. Baekhyun gives him a collar as a joke, though Jongin rolls his eyes and seems to take it well. The rest of them put money in for a pair of new dancing shoes.

They’re shiny and beautiful and even Joonmyun is touched that they thought to do that for him, especially as they didn’t ask Joonmyun what to get, they just went and bought them.

Jongin, himself, nearly cries. Joonmyun knows that he’d never have had the money to buy them himself. He’s been using the same shoes for years as far as he can tell, and they’re beginning to fall apart, even though Joonmyun hasn’t said anything.

“Thank you, Hyungs,” Jongin whispers, breath shaky as he tries to hold back his tears. “This means so much to me. You have no idea.”

Chanyeol does the unthinkable then—he gets up and hugs Jongin, wrapping arms around his shoulders from behind. “We’re just glad you like them. You deserve it.”

Joonmyun feels his own eyes mist with tears at this, and he smiles at all his friends with as much love as he can muster. He has the best friends in the world.

After school, he takes Jongin aside and gives him the painting, rolled up. Joonmyun thinks it ended up beautiful, paint strokes blurring the two figures together where they’re connected, showing that they’re one being.

Jongin unrolls it and stares at it for a moment.

Joonmyun starts talking quickly because of his nerves, his desperation for Jongin to see what he sees and to like it. “I just wanted you to know that you and the wolf both—you’re special to me, and you’re my boyfriend and my mate and you’re _one_ , and I wanted to tell you that I respect and care for you both because of it, because of how you’re one—”

Jongin kisses him, tugging him up to meet him and his mouth. Joonmyun tries to talk through the kiss for a moment before he realises, stops, and kisses back.

“I love it,” Jongin says, when they separate. “And I understand what you mean. I think I’m starting to see, with the rest of the shifters keeping me safe, that the wolf isn’t as fearful and dangerous as I once thought he was. With them around, I’ll never injure anyone again.”

He gathers Joonmyun into his arms and Joonmyun presses in close, holding his head in Jongin’s shoulder, and feeling perfectly content.

~*~*~

The closer they get to the festival talent show, the more nervous Joonmyun gets.

He’s not nervous about the painting that he finally finished and handed in to be shown with the rest of the artwork from students, because he knows it’s amazing. But he’s not a good singer, and he’s beginning to wonder if their performance will be at all accepted by the public and—more importantly—by the judges. They’ve worked too long and too hard to find out that it’s rubbish and nobody likes them.

Zitao, who does martial arts, is participating as well. Apparently he tried to get Sehun to join as well, but Sehun believes that his purpose in life is to be a beautiful pink ram and look bored.

“You should have joined to model,” Joonmyun tells him, and Sehun rolls his eyes.

The choir isn’t taking part in the talent show, but they’re singing the introductions and the intervals, and watching them rehearse the day of the show makes fear rise up Joonmyun’s throat, and he has to grip Jongin’s hand tightly and focus on Jongdae and Kyungsoo to make himself settle.

“Breathe,” Chanyeol says, once the choir is finished. “You’ll be fine.” He takes Joonmyun’s other hand and rubs it between his own. “He’ll be fine, right?” he asks the rest of their band, who nod in agreement.

“Just remember how cute you are,” Baekhyun says. “You can make anything work.”

“Not helping,” Chanyeol says. “Kyungsoo!” he calls over to the stage. “Can you come over for a moment and hit Baekhyun for me?”

Baekhyun smacks Chanyeol.

The strange thing is that the normality of the situation is doing more to calm Joonmyun down than the reassuring words. Baekhyun offering bad advice and bickering with Chanyeol, Chanyeol doing his best to be the father figure before he remembers he’s supposed to be a young comedy genius, Yixing thinking intensely about whatever Yixing thinks to keep himself focused, and Jongin next to him, a warm and comforting presence. Jongin squeezes Joonmyun’s hand and Joonmyun realises that he can definitely do it.

When it’s their turn, EXO go on stage and they _rock_ it.

Jongin dances harder than he’s ever danced in his life, hitting the choreography perfectly. Yixing and Chanyeol turn their playing up to eleven. And Baekhyun hits notes that are almost too high to be pleasurable. Joonmyun himself goes from bearable to melodic, sounding the best he’s ever sounded in his life.

They finish their performance feeling amazing and Joonmyun knows that even if they don’t win, he doesn’t mind at all, because that was one of the best feelings of his life.

They go to mingle in the crowd during the interval. Joonmyun finds his parents with his older brother and Kevin, and leads Jongin over by the hand.

“You were so good!” Joonmyun’s mother coos. “Both of you were great!”

“It was okay,” Joonmyun’s brother says with a shrug. “You were pretty good though,” he adds, turning to Jongin, who looks proud and happy at the compliment.

“I agree,” Joonmyun says. “You were great.”

Jongin blushes.

Kevin just smiles at him. “Hey squirt,” he says, when they get a chance to break away from Joonmyun’s family. “How’s everything?”

“Great!” Joonmyun says, still riding his adrenaline high. “I feel on top of the world.”

“I see you two are doing well,” Kevin says, nodding down at Joonmyun and Jongin’s entwined hands, and it’s Joonmyun’s turn to blush.

“Yeah,” he says, “we are.”

They head back to watch the rest of the performances when the interval is over. Zitao is amazing, flying through the sky as he kicks and flips in a perfectly choreographed routine. The other performances pale in comparison after he does his bit.

Neither EXO nor Zitao win, although Zitao comes second and gets himself a shiny silver trophy. The winner is a student who is able to contort herself into a tiny box, which Joonmyun thinks is well-worth first place. At least it wasn’t a girl with a dancing dog.

He moves away to look at the art table. There are so many beautiful paintings; of people, animals, their school. There are photographs and drawings and even a collage of photographs spelling out “Happy New Year”. Joonmyun doesn’t see his painting and worries that it wasn’t posted.

And then he turns, feeling dejected, and sees his painting, in a thick white frame, standing pride of place on a table all its own.

It looks majestic, like it’s the most important piece, and Joonmyun feels both proud and upset, like he’s lording over the rest of the pupils like he’s better than them. Some of the other art is just as good as his painting, but his is the one that gets preferential treatment, the one that gets shown off.

His painting is surrounded by adults, and he sneaks closer to hear their discussion.

“This is amazing,” a man, talking to Joonmyun’s art teacher, says. “It’s beautiful.”

“Look at how the wolf comes closer,” a lady says. “It takes great skill to make a painting come to life. You said this is a student’s work? I could have sworn this would be by a famous painter. It’s astonishing.”

Joonmyun blushes at their praise. He’s proud of it, and it’s one of the best things he’s ever painted, but he had never thought that it’s worthy of such commendation and compliments.

“I would like to buy this painting,” the man says, “but I think it would be better in his portfolio. There is not an art university in the world that would not accept a student with this amount of talent.”

“Oh, there you are,” Joonmyun hears, and he turns to see Jongin and Chanyeol. They come to stand behind him.

“That’s amazing,” Jongin says. “Who painted it?”

“I did,” Joonmyun says, and although he says it quietly, the man and the woman turn to face him quickly.

“You’re the artist?” the man asks. Although his Korean is impeccable, Joonmyun realises that he is non-native, possibly American.

“Yes, Sir,” Joonmyun says. “I’m Kim Joonmyun.”

“This is a fantastic painting. I very nearly asked your teacher how much it would be to buy it,” the man says, turning back to admire it.

“Lee-Seonsaengnim invited my husband and I to look at your painting as we were in the neighbourhood,” his wife, who is Korean, says. “He said we’d want to see this. Young man, you have an amazing gift.”

“How old are you?” the man asks.

“Seventeen, Sir,” Joonmyun says. “I’ll be eighteen this year.”

“Well, Joonmyun-sshi,” the man says. “I work for the New York Academy of Arts. When you’re finished school, submit an application to us and I’m sure we can see what we can do. Your talent is amazing and I would like to see to it that we are the ones to hone it.” He hands Joonmyun a card.

Joonmyun stares at the card for a moment in absolute shock, before bowing frantically to the man. The man offers his hand to shake and he does so. “Thank you so much, Sir,” he says.

“I’ll be waiting to hear from you in a year,” the man says with a smile. “Along with your portfolio.” And then he leaves with his wife.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” Joonmyun breathes.

“Please don’t pass out,” Chanyeol jokes. “You wouldn’t want to destroy the art.”

Joonmyun waits until Mr Lee isn’t looking before kicking Chanyeol.

~*~*~

The last week before the full moon is spent doing nothing but studying. Joonmyun barely even sees his friends, let alone Jongin. They have no time to dance and no time to chat. Even during lunchtimes Joonmyun eats in his classroom over a textbook. Now he’s been given an offer to study at a prestigious arts university, he doesn’t want to do anything to mess up his chances. Starting from now, he’s going to be dedicated to passing exams and doing his best.

Though that doesn’t mean he can’t have fun at the weekends, and, as the first day falls on Friday and the actual day— _The_ Day; D-Day—happens on Saturday, he thinks he’ll manage.

Friday starts as it always does. Joonmyun spends the day studying, though he makes an effort to see his friends at lunch for the first time that week. Jongin squeezes his hand and smiles when he looks, and Joonmyun is flooded with excitement. Today is the last day before Jongin is mature. Today is the last day that Jongin’s dick _won’t_ get hard watching him pleasuring himself or helping him himself. Today is the last day before the last puzzle piece falls into place.

Heat begins spot on three o’clock. Joonmyun can hardly make it to another room and he tugs Jongin into the closest toilets, which is blissfully empty. They lock themselves in a cubicle and after a quick kiss, everything gets underway.

Jongin sucks Joonmyun off briskly, knowing they don’t have a lot of time before someone else comes in. Joonmyun isn’t sad. They’ll have all the time in the world tomorrow, to break Joonmyun’s heat, hopefully for good.

Once Joonmyun’s come once, Jongin slips his fingers into Joonmyun and brushes over his prostate until he comes a second and third time. Jongin swallows it all down and holds Joonmyun steady so that he won’t fall to the ground on shaky legs.

“Tomorrow,” Jongin promises, “tomorrow it won’t just be my fingers.”

Joonmyun almost gets hard at the thought alone.

~*~*~

Joonmyun heads over to Jongin’s house Saturday morning with a spring in his step. This is it. This is the day. It’s D-Day.

He doesn’t think he’s ever been quite as excited for anything before in his entire seventeen years of life.

He vibrates with excitement as he and Jongin watch a film together, some ridiculous comedy called _Attack on the Pinup Boys_ by Super Junior that tries too hard but is nonetheless entertaining, knowing that anything except some kind of escapism will cause Joonmyun to think too hard about what’s coming.

“At least this will take your mind off it,” Jongin had said when they started the film.

“How are you not excited?” he’d replied, and Jongin had laughed.

“Of course I am, I’m just better at hiding it than you.”

The film does its job, getting Joonmyun focused on the absurdity of the plot and not on the idea of later having full-on sex with Jongin for the first time.

It’s as they’re discussing the plot after lunch over a shared pizza that Joonmyun feels the tell-tale tickle of heat sweep up his body.

Jongin notices a second after he does. “Well, this is it,” he says. “Can’t back down now.”

“I don’t want to back down,” Joonmyun pants as he hastily removes all his clothes and settles back on the bed, hand fisting his dick. “I want you in me. I _need_ you.”

Joonmyun watches as Jongin swallows, a reaction that he’s never seen Jongin make before. He smiles and takes the lubricant, pouring some over his fingers. He then slides them down his sweating body, leaving a trail of coolness behind for a moment, before swirling them around his hole. He makes sure that Jongin can see as he slowly presses them inside himself—in, out, in, out. He pushes his fingers up inside and moans, body lifting off the bed.

“Whoa,” Jongin breathes, “that’s really hot, now I can feel something. My dick agrees.”

And Joonmyun can see it if he looks directly at Jongin’s crotch, he can see as Jongin’s cock swells and hardens, pressing up against the material.

“I feel like a twelve year old who’s just realised their dick gets bigger when they think about naked ladies,” Jongin says in wonder. “This is great. This is really great.”

He quickly undresses and his cock, now free, curves up towards his stomach, thick and pink and beautiful, and Joonmyun can’t help crawling across the bed towards him. He takes the cock in his hand, heavier than his own, and leans down to lick the tip.

“Oh wow,” Jongin says, “that feels _amazing_.”

It’s like introducing to a world that Joonmyun’s already been privy to, the idea of sexual pleasure. He takes Jongin into his mouth and tries to share his joy and ecstasy with him. He sucks and he licks and he hollows his cheeks so they brush against the side of Jongin’s dick.

When he reaches down to play with Jongin’s balls, Jongin pants, “Stop, or we won’t get to finish.”

Joonmyun reluctantly pulls away with an obscene pop, mouth and cock connected by saliva trails that snap as he lies back and gestures Jongin to come closer. His cock glistens with saliva and Joonmyun feels happy.

They don’t use a condom, neither of them feeling the need to. Jongin slicks himself up with lube and then positions himself at Joonmyun’s entrance. Joonmyun can feel the head bluntly pressing up against him and he moans.

“You ready?” Jongin asks.

“Yes,” Joonmyun breathes, and then Jongin’s pushing inside.

It’s not as painful as he’d thought it might be. He supposes that being stretched so much has helped, as has the one time Jongin had fisted him, filling him up with his fingers. Because even as Jongin seats himself inside as far as he can, there’s only a little discomfort, but mostly pleasure.

Jongin pauses to let them both get used to it. “I was wrong,” he pants. “ _This_ feels amazing.”

“Move,” Joonmyun breathes, and Jongin does, pulling out to thrust back in. He’s going punishingly quickly for their first time and it’s absolutely _perfect_.

Joonmyun holds onto Jongin, arms around his shoulder, as Jongin brushes against his prostate constantly. Already stimulated from fingering himself, it doesn’t take long for him to come, painting both of their stomachs and moaning loudly. Jongin keeps going, not giving Joonmyun time to come down from his high and this time he _does_ feel the over-stimulation burning through him, and it feels so good that he drags Jongin down for a kiss.

“I’m close,” Jongin pants into his mouth. “Come with me.” He wraps a hand around Joonmyun’s cock and strokes in time with his thrusts, getting faster as he hits his orgasm. He thrusts erratically through it, releasing into Joonmyun, who comes a second time with a moan that’s almost a scream, body shaking so much that Jongin looks worried for a moment. He slips out of Joonmyun. “Are you okay?” he asks.

“I’m perfect,” Joonmyun says, feeling himself soften, and he pulls Jongin down for another kiss. “I’m absolutely perfect.”

Wrapped together in each other’s arms, they drift off for an afternoon nap, and Joonmyun dreams that he’s asleep next to the wolf, who seems perfectly happy to lie there with him, because this is his mate. This human is _his_. His human to _love_ —such an unusual concept, for a wolf—and protect. There will be no pups from this one, but that’s not what the wolf needs. He needs companionship, apart from his pack—the single-horned shiny beast, the winged beast, the large furry beast, the curled horned beast, and the others he’s run with; the two little animals he doesn’t want to eat, the beast with the tall and spiky horns and the other with wings—and love, and this human can give it, _will_ give it, for the rest of their lives. He moves closer to his mate.

In his sleep, Joonmyun smiles.

~*~*~

Epilogue

A few years later, when they’re both in college in New York, Joonmyun having finished his first two years at New York Academy of Arts and Jongin in his second year at Juilliard, Joonmyun realises that they’ve really made it. 

Spending two years away from Jongin had been hard, although his heat had never acted up again after the first time they mated, despite Chanyeol’s fears. It had been hard because Joonmyun loved Jongin, and being away from the love of his life had been a challenging experience. But with Skype calls every day between Korea and America, they had been able to make it work—and video sex had been great, too.

But now they don’t have to do that anymore. They have a flat together in New York, paid partially by Joonmyun’s parents—who’d welcomed Jongin into their family with open arms and open hearts, seeing how happy he makes Joonmyun—and by the money he earns painting portraits for people. Jongin, too does his part, being a frequently requested dancer for public events. So that’s how they pay their bills.

They still see their friends, Jongin’s pack. Once most of them had finished school, Sehun and Zitao had stayed with him, running with him until they’d all finished school as well. It’s harder to run over here, but Joonmyun thinks they’ve worked out a scheme; during the weekend moons, they go away to a cabin near the woods, where the wolf is allowed to run free—with Chanyeol and Yixing, who have moved nearby, to guard him. But for the work days when they can’t leave, Chanyeol’s family built a chamber in their flat like the one Joonmyun had stayed in so long ago, a safe place for Jongin to sleep. Just having his mate nearby seems to calm the wolf a little, but only sometimes.

Jongin insists he be caged, though it seems humiliating, in order to protect Joonmyun and anybody else that he can. It hurts Joonmyun every time he bolts the door, but it’s for the best. It means that if they get any visitors, nothing will happen to them. The wolf can’t get out. Best scenario if the wolf did get out would be that he destroyed the house running around. Worst scenario could be anyone ending up with teeth in their throat. It’s better to be prepared for the worst.

Chanyeol and Yixing had stayed together throughout the years, and moved to New York once Chanyeol finished school. Yixing is at university to become a nurse. Chanyeol works with animals, which is something fitting. Jongin and Joonmyun see them every weekend, and sometimes even more often.

Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Jongdae are at university back home, but they Skype regularly, keeping in touch. They’re the same as always, teasing each other and Joonmyun every time they talk, and Joonmyun finds that he doesn’t miss them so much when he can see their faces. Baekhyun has recently been doing his own research into Therianthropy, trying to work out why he gained his ability so late in life. Joonmyun wishes him the best of luck.

Sehun and Zitao are well. Zitao is at a martial arts university and Sehun nearby as always, though Joonmyun still isn’t sure whether he’s at university or not. They never seem to be able to be apart from each other for very long. Joonmyun finds it cute. He’s heard from the others that their animal forms are even closer, the large tiger bathing the smaller ram like he’s his own child.

The eldest two of their group, Minseok and Lu Han, the ones with all the knowledge, seem to be doing well, living together in China, and Kevin—well, Kevin takes great joy in trying to hold conversations over Skype in fantastical Pixiu form; the beautiful and kingly mythological beast managing to be far less graceful as it tries to work out a computer mouse with its hooves. Joonmyun knows he does it to make him and Jongin laugh, but he also thinks that Kevin just enjoys showing off.

Their lives are underway. They live together, and Joonmyun’s best friend isn’t too far away, always ready to come if they need him. Their other friends and his family are at the other end of the phone. Aside from some kind of potion to help Jongin with the pain of the changes, Joonmyun doesn’t think he would change anything at all.

Life is good.

FIN


End file.
